AFRICAN UNION
UNION AFRICAINE
os AY alas
UNTAO AFRICANA
AFRICAN COURT ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
COUR AFRICAINE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME ET DES PEUPLES
Application 003/2014
In the matter of Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza v. Republic of Rwanda
Dissenting Opinion of Judge Fatsah Ouguergouz
1.
I voted against the adoption of this Order because I consider that it was
not justified and the three measures ordered by the Court (paragraphs 20-22) are
jeopardizing the integrity of the judicial function and authority of the Court.
The Court has indeed acted as if it has sided with the Respondent State, thereby
breaking with the principle of equality of the parties.
2.
In my view, the Court was duty bound to draw the legal consequences
from the non-appearance of the Respondent State at the hearing. I also believe
that it behoved the Court to pronounce itself on the legal effects, for the
examination of the instant case, of the Respondent State’s withdrawal of its
declaration without having to organize a procedural phase for the purpose of
consulting the Parties on this matter. I believe further that it is pointless to order
the Applicant to submit written observations on the four “procedural matters”
mentioned in paragraph 15 of the Order, whereas Counsels for the Applicant
had already made ample submissions on all the said matters at the public
hearing and on two of these procedural matters in their previous
correspondence. The Court should then have made a ruling on these four
procedural matters in this Order as requested by the Applicant (see paragraph 19
of the Order).
:
3.
Lastly, but no less important, the Order robs the public hearing of 4
March 2016 of its very objective, thus making it totally needless.