1 Human and People-s' Rights, which provides that << Every individual
shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human
being and to the recognition of his legal status. All forms of exploitation
and degradation of man particularly slavery) slave trade) torture, cruel,
inhuman or · degrading punishment and treatment shall be
prohibited.>>
1
- The Republic of Burkina Faso
35. Counsel to the Republic of Burkina Faso did not raise any
counter view concerning this claim.
Legal Analysis· by the Court.
36. The Court notes that Mr. Badini Salfo alleges that he was put to
moral torture, due to the conditions of his detention and that he was
subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment, because the Defendant
State failed to bring him before a competent judge.
•
37. The Court observes that Plaintiff did not show any proof for this
allegation. He did not even make any edifying description of the
illtreatment that he suffered, of those who meted them out on his
person, of circumstances of times and places that these treatments
took place. Worse still, he does not even show the moral sufferings
that he underwent, or the body pains that he felt, owing to the acts
that he alleges were meted out on his person. The Court can,
therefore, not adjudicate on this claim.
,, t
·'
.
38. Moreover, since · the Charter does neither define what
constitutes « cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment » nor indicate
the acts that·· can be termed as constituting that category of
treatment, the Court holds that a treatment is « inhuman » if it is
meted out.to intentionally inflict heavy mental sufferings or great
physical pains on the sufferer; such a treatment is « cruel » if it
connotes a disregard for the fragility for the human person, and
greatly hits human conscience ; it is « degrading » if it is meted
out, with a view to humiliate, de debase or to touch negatively the
human dignity of the person, to whom it is inflicted. ThuS, a cruel ,
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