000929 of his t...1 c) The right to defence, including the right to be defended by counsel choice. " 70.The Court notes that Article 7 (1) (c) of the Charter does not provide explicitly for the right to free legal assistance. This Court has however, interpreted this provision in light of Article 14 (3) (d) of the lnternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)1s, and determined that the right to defence includes the right to be provided with free legal assistance.le The Court has also held that an individual charged with a criminal offence is entitled to the right to free legal assistance without having requesled for it, provided that the interests of justice so require. This will be the case where an accused is indigent and is charged with a serious offence which carries a severe penalty.2o 71.The Court notes that the Applicant was not afforded free legal assistance throughout the proceedings in the national courts. The Court further notes that the Respondent State does not dispute that the offence is serious and the penalty provided by law is severe, it only contends that he did not make a request for legal aid. 72.Given that the Applicant was charged with a serious crime, that is, rape of a twelve (12) year old minor, carrying a severe mandatory punishment of 30 years' imprisonmentzl . Therefore, the interest of justice warranted that the Applicant be provided with free legalassistance and this should not have been contingent on the availability of financial resources. Also, whether he made such a request or not is immaterial. The Respondent State became a State Party to ICCPR on on 1 1 June 1976. Alex Thomas v Tanzania (Merits), $'114; Kijiji tsiaga v Tanzania (Merits), $ 72, Application No. 003/2015. Judgment ot 281Q912018 (Merits), Kennedy Owino Onyachi and Another v United Republic of Tanzania, $ 104. 20 Alex Thomas lbid, 123, see also Mohammed Abubakari v Tanzania (Merits), S S 138-139. S 21 The Judge has no discretion in the imposition of the sentence 1s 1s 19 s