53. At the court hearing of 30 October 2012, - Plaintiff Cou.nsel affirmed· that the
Applicants had evidence on the payment of the guarantee fee as made
to the investigation judges at Lome, Atakpame and Amlame. Upon
the instructions of the Court, they communicated the said exhibits to the
Court, which were duly served on the Defendant.
54. At the court hearing of 11 December 2012, the
Republic of Togo
received the said documents and therefore decided to abandon its legal
claim concerning non-initialisation of the public action on grounds of
non-payment of the guarantee fee by the Applicants, and withdrew all
the observations and arguments it had adduced in connection with that
claim.
,,
55. In such circumstances, the Court notes that the Republic of Togo no
more contests the claim brought by the Applicants as well a's the
allegation on violation Article 7(1)-d of the Charter. The Court adjudges
that this aspect of the Application is not manifestly ill founded. The
Court now sets out to examine the Applicants' pleas in law in regard to
this point.
56. Article 7{1)-d of the ·African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights
provides: "Every individual shall have the right to have his case heard . This
comprises: ... the right to be tried within a reasonable time by an
impartial court or tribunal."
57. Now, it is incontrovertible that the acts of violence which followed the
2005 presidential· elections in Togo adversely affected the human
persons and properties Of the victims, who were located in Lome,
Atakpame and Amlame; that since then, the Applicants filed complaints
before the investigating judges of those localities and constituted civil
parties to the proceedings, and they paid the guarantee fees required by
the laws of Togo. But since then, the case has not been called for
-
hearing: for some of them, the time lapse so far has been up to 3 or 4
years, whereas for others, it is 7 years.
58. In the instant case, the Republic of Togo does not bring any argument
which may justify such inaction on the part of its judicial services. The
Republic of Togo rather
measures to inquire
advances the argument that
into the complaints,
victims and fight against impunity.
15
it has taken
so as to compensate the