87. The Complainant further submits that he had taken advantage of the
interruption of the hearing to inform the Head of the Supreme Court and
confirmed the contents of their discussion in his letter of 6 April 2000, copies
of which were forwarded to the judges in question and the President of the
National Bar Association. The letter was received by the judges concerned
four days prior to the delivery of their decision.
88. On the basis of these arguments, the Complainant alleges a violation of
Article 7 (1) (c) of the African Charter, given that he was put in a position of
inequality and, as a result, was unable to have his case heard and to exercise
his right to defence against his opponent, Pharmakina Company. This is the
same argument the Complainant strives to establish before the Commission,
namely the refusal by the Supreme Court as being the main decision that
prevented him from producing his case file.
Arguments of the Respondent State
Violation of Article 3
89. Concerning the violation of the provisions of Article 3 alleged by the
Complainant, the DRC responds by deploring the fact that the Complainant
challenges a court decision, namely Judgment No RA 444/445/452, issued by
the Supreme Court, without producing a copy of the said decision to allow
the Respondent State to make an informed assessment of the objective or
subjective motivation of the court being called into question.
90. Moreover, the Respondent State recalls that Information Sheet No. 2 on
Guidelines for Submission of Communications requires that to establish the
facts constituting violation, the party alleging a violation must explain in as
much factual detail as possible what happened, specifying the place, time and
date of the violation, if possible. The Respondent State avers that in this case,
it is absolutely impossible to have a copy of the contested decision, since the
records of the Supreme Court were burnt in 2006 following the unrests that
occurred during the pre-election period. The Respondent State argues
therefore that since the Complainant was unable to produce a copy of that
decision, the Commission must dismiss this claim as unfounded.
91. Whereas the Complainant states that all his appeals to gain access to his case
file were dismissed, the Respondent State, on the other hand, claims that after
consideration of the application for intervention filed by the Complainant, the
Supreme Court had ordered the joinder of the three applications on which it
delivered Judgement No. RA 444/445/452. It is in this judgment, the
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