Application". The Respondent concluded by stating that the Applicants " ... are the authors of their own destiny". 124. During the public hearing, the Respondent submitted that there are " ... many reasons for (sic) why a case would take a long period of time. First of all, there is the issue of complexity and seriousness of the case. There were ten accused people, therefore a substantial case beyond reasonable doubt had to be built and proven against each Applicant. Indeed , it took a period of nearly two years from when the Applicants were arraigned in Court on 25 January 2006, to when the prosecution presented their first witness on 5 August 2008. However, the position was that there were other suspects and accused persons who were facing extradition trials in Kenya and we felt it prudent that all accused persons should be present at once and then commence with Criminal Proceedings". 125. The Respondent argues further that "what happened in effect was that as charges were being substituted and accused persons were being charged in their individual capacity, it was delaying cases, they had to remit ab initio and start again. .. . Unfortunately, the cases in Kenya went up to the Court of Appeal and they were never released, so we decided to just proceed with the cases against the accused persons". 126. In its closing submission, the Respondent noted that "we would also like to point out that delays in the case were not strictly by prosecution, they were instances when Defence Counsel did not make appearance, there were instances when Defence Counsel was sick, there were instances when Defence Counsel was appearing before the Court of Appeal, Superior Courts, and what happens when you attend a Superior Court, naturally you do not attend the lower Court. So these allegations of delay were not by the Respondent . ". 127. Concerning the alleged violation of Article 7 on account of prolonged and undue delay, the Court would like to emphasize the importance of a speedy judicial process, especially In criminal matters Justice delayed is justice denied, is a maxim that is often used in this regard . If society sees that judicial settlement of disputes is 38 ----z;e_ xc;. ~ {9 :;;);~~ ~- 0 . !- I