000151 3. That the costs of this Application be borne by the Appticants.'l 13.With regard to merits, the Respondent State prays the Court to find that it has not violated Articles 1,2,3,6, 7(1) (c) and 7(2) of the Charter. Moreover, it prays that the Court should deny the Applicants prayer for reparations and order them to pay costs. V. JURISDICT]ON 14. Pursuant to Article 3 (1) of the Protocol, the jurisdiction of the Court extends to "all cases and disputes submitted to it concerning the interpretation and application of the Charter, the Protocol and other relevant human rights instruments ratified by the State concerned". ln terms of Rule 39 (1) of its Rules, "the Court shall conduct preliminary examination of its jurisdiction. 15. .. ". The Respondent State raises an objection to the material jurisdiction of the Court. A. Objection to material jurisdiction 16. The Respondent State asserts that Article 3 (1 ) of the Protocol and Rule 26 of the Rules only affords the Court jurisdiction to "deal with cases or disputes concerning the application and interpretation of the Charter, the Protocol and any other human rights instruments ratified by the concerned State." lT.Accordingly, the Respondent State submits that "the Court is not afforded unlimited jurisdiction to sit as a court of first instance or an appellate court and reanalyse the evidence already analysed by the highest domestic court." 6 '/