of Europe through protocol 1 to the European Convention of Human
Rights. ”
77. Having found that the right to property is one of the exceptions that grounds
a corporate legal entity the right to bring a claim under Article 10 (d), and in the
light of the fact that one of the reliefs sought by the Applicant is the right to
property, the Court finds that the Applicant can validly maintain an action for
the alleged violation of its right to property.
3. Whether the Applicant’s Right to Property has been violated.
78. The crux of the Applicant’s application is predicated on an alleged seizure of
the sum of Three Million US Dollars (US$ 3,000.000.00) by the Respondent on
grounds of allegation of suspicious activities in the Applicants’ account. The
Applicant’s maintained that in so doing and without legal justification, the act of
the Respondent’s bank amounts to a violation of its right to property. The
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights guarantees the right to property.
Article 14 of ACHPR states:
“The right to property shall be guaranteed. It may only be encroached
upon in the interest of public need or in the general interest of the
community and in accordance with the provisions of appropriate laws”
79. Property can be defined as a possession that people can lay claim to upon
provision of legal title, proof of ownership or any document conferring the right
of ownership. In CENTRO EUROPA 7 S.R.L. AND DI STEFANO v. ITALY
(Application no. 38433/09) JUDGMENT STRASBOURG 7 June 2012, the ECHR
held that:
“In considering the provisions of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the
European Court of Human Rights (which is in pari materia with Article 14
of the African Charter), the concept of property or possession is very
broadly interpreted. It covers a range of economic interests which
include: movable or immovable property, tangible or intangible interests,
such as shares, patents, an arbitration award, the entitlement to
pension, the right to exercise a profession, a landlord’s entitlement to
rent, the economic interests connected with the running of a business.”
80. It follows from the above that, money being an economic interest connected
with the running of a business can be classified as property which can be owned
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