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43.
With regard to the allegation that the Applicant did not raise the legal aid issue
during domestic proceedings but chose to bring it before this Court for the first
time, the Court, in line with its Judgment in A/ex Thomas v. tJnited Repubtic of
Tanzania, takes the view that this complaint forms part of the "bundle of rights
and guarantees" enshrined
in
the appeal procedures at domestic level which
upheld the guilty verdict against the Applicant and the sentence to thirty (30)
years' imprisonment. The Court stresses that legal aid forms part of the "bundle
of rights and guarantees" in respect of the right to a fair trial, which is the basis
and substance of the Applicant's appeal. The domestic judicial authorities thus
had ample opportunity to address that allegation even without the Applicant
having raised it explicitly. lt would therefore be unreasonable to require the
Applicant to file a new application before the domestic courts to seek redress for
these complaints.6
44
Accordingly, the Court finds that the Applicant has exhausted local remedies as
envisaged in Article 56(5) of the Charter and Rule 4O(5) of the Rules. The Court
therefore overrules this objection to the admissibility of the Application.
ii.
45.
Objection based on the ground that the Application was not filed
within a reasonable time
The Respondent State argues that, should the Court take the view that the
Applicant has exhausted local remedies, the fact would still remain that he did
not file his Application within a reasonable time from the date the domestic
remedies were exhausted.
46.
The Respondent State further asserts that even if Rule 40(6) of the Rules is not
specific on what constitutes a reasonable time, international human rights
jurisprudence has established that six (6) months is considered a reasonable
time, invoking in particular the decision in respect of Communication No. 30g/05,
in Michael Majuru v. Zimbabwe, wherein the Commission is claimed to have
applied that timeframe.
6
Alex Thomas v. Tanzania Judgment, op. cit., paras. 60
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