ACHPR African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Human Hights our Collective Responsibility in the State, the burden of proof will shift to 'the State claiming non-exhaustion and it has an obligation to prove that domestic remedies remain to be exhausted and that they are effective's". By failing to engage the Commission on the allegations made by the Complainants, the Respondent State fails to discharge this onus. It would be an affront to justice to reward the State for its silence in this case while penalising it for its admissions in previous Communications. 61. As such, in the absence of any concrete steps on the part of the State to bring the victim to court, or to allow him access to his legal representatives two years after his arrest and detention, and more than one year after being seized of the matter, the African Commission is persuaded to conclude that domestic remedies, even if available, are not effective nor sufficient. 62. Accordingly, the Commission considers that the i,Complaif1:ants have constructively exhausted domestic remedies and are thus:'in compliance with Article 56(5) of the African Charter: .. f. Submission Charter within a reasonable period (Article 56(6) of the African 63. Article 56(6) of the African Charter requires that a Communication must be submitted ' ...within a reasonable period from the time local remedies are exhausted or from the date the Commission is seized of the matter'. The Commission rec~lls that the African Charter does not provide a fixed period for reasonableness and instead determines this on a case-by-case basis. In practice, the Commission adopts the international standard of a six-month delimitation within which a <;ilommu~iCationmay be reasonably submitted from the domestic level. The reasonableness of submission beyond this period is dependent on the circumstances of the case. 64. Ordinarily, the reasonableness period runs from the moment local remedies are exhausted. However, where remedies are unavailable, the period runs from the date on which the alleged violation(s) occurred or when the applicant became aware of the act or its effects. If the Complainant attempts to exhaust an apparently available remedy and only subsequently becomes aware that the0~\'I~H'E1"Jo circumstances that render the remedy ineffective or insufficient, thrp6tIQdl:fUI1S I,~ 27' See Liesbeth Zegveld and Mussie Ephrem v. Eritrea, supra note 3, para 36. (S I/i/ ~rl.( "~ ~ z ~ <1 o ~--L <~ \ u~ I .' 17. ~-i is en <\ ~ 0 ",u-\.lJ'>, <.t" The African Commission ori'Mb ~a~Peopl~ 31 Bijilo Annex Layout, Kombo Nort~ istri~(OX~~I:.~e,~~1 Phone: (220) 230 \ 6t ~8x:~i&j .~ 11JY',E ETO.,. ,"'Email: au- baruun . lJLiEoUnlO!Y.Org ';hC>V t4J~5~()~