ACHPR
African Commission on
Human and Peoples' Ri~Jhts
Human Rights our
Collective Hesponsibilrtv
submit that this interest was fully protected when the First
,
pursued the single substantive appeal available against his criminal
75. The Complainants
Complainant
conviction, namely an appeal to the Federallsupreme
Court. This appeal was rejected.
trial
'criminal appeal received widespread
attention from the media, non-zovernmenta
organisations, international institutions,
and other govcrnments.P As such, there
no realistic possibility that the Ethiopian
government was unaware of the situation
did not h~~~
f~~.,~pportunity
to remedy
"',
Moreover, the First Complainant's
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.
,
the situation.
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.
76. The Commission notes that the proced
,
."Iocaljtrdieial .remedies in
this case is as follows: the Federal High .
Fea~~~c?~p~em~:'~6~~t and
"
then the Cassation Division of the
The'~~~f,'~Ildent State in
this case contends that the First 9()Q}R:~~inart
which were available and effective bet~~l$e ~he la
.
"'~<~{<~1~":,
<~P);
present an appeal to the :C~~~n~i?n
Divis.J~i~t~tt:tJ1e
77. The Commission
als~:D;notes:ili~t"the;Firs~ ·'-::"·,,"""J.LLI-'J.LlJ..LPUJ.
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opportunity to fl;rpeal to the Cassati~~,pivision
not contesting that an
Federal Supreme Court is not
~£'
available but r~N~er, that it is not an e£f~,c;~ve,;recoursebecause it is only a formality
with no prospe~~j"\ success due to t\e li~it~~nature of its jurisdiction and therefore
1 ~~~
,.\
:,
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ilp;i
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decided not to prot '"c:'8'Withthe hecWng of the Appeal filed at the Cassation Division
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,
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of the!:t~8-eral,Supreme' ,
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,
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78. The C6~ssi?n
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";{9JMay 2013.
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.~u.~th~rreiterates that a remedy is effective if it offers prospects of
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success an;d(that is, th~;;appropriate reliefthat
is capable of adequately and timely
redressing the . specific violation suffered. However,
the effectiveness of a remedy does
,
not depend "~:rr the certainty
•
or guara+tee
of a favourable
outcome
for the
I
complainant.t+ It is enough that the complaint is arguable, in the seR~"i~~
,
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13 For example,
G\
.s as
.o~o
~
t ~
g~
on 17 December 2012, 16 members of the EuropeanlParliament issued a PUbl~"~tter fo then""~":'
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, raising concern about the imprisonment 0 j ~e\a and\Mlling fo~ his
releas~ . .-: similar letter was sent to the Ethiopian government I on 9 October 2012 by 29~. iff. ef'e~\.:-"'IlODgOV<~~9.Ufu'
'
organisations.
.
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:";0111 4"RICt-\~ <;?<v'!f"
14 M.S.S v Belgium and Greece (2011) ECHR (Application No. 306~6/09) para. 289
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18 I P age
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The African
___
..
Commission
on Human and Peoples'
Rights
31 Bijilo Annex Layout. Kombo North District.
West Coast Region Gambia
Phone: (220) 230 4361 Fax: (220) 441 0504
Email: au-banjul@africa-union.orq
http~:/achpr.au.int/O Q a