Capitao v Tanzania (Communication 53 of 1991)

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

Holding

The African Commission held the communication inadmissible for failure to exhaust local remedies. The complainant obtained a judgment against a Tanzanian state-owned company in Zaire but failed to pursue enforcement remedies in Tanzania before bringing the communication. The Commission ruled that local remedies must be properly exhausted before a communication can be considered admissible.

Outcome

Communication dismissed as inadmissible with leave to resubmit upon exhaustion of local remedies

Facts

Alberto Capitao, a businessman and former Zairian citizen resident in Angola, sued the Tanzanian Film Company, a state-owned entity, in a Zairian court and obtained judgment for $500,000 on 4 July 1984. The Tanzanian Embassy in Kinshasa was sued simultaneously. No appeal was filed as of January 1985. The Tanzanian Film Company failed to pay the judgment debt. The company had no property in Zaire, and the only Tanzanian state property, the Embassy, was protected by diplomatic immunity. The complainant sought intervention from the Foreign Ministries of Zaire and Angola without success. He then brought a communication to the African Commission alleging denial of justice.

Issues

1. Whether the communication was admissible before the African Commission where local remedies had not been exhausted.

Orders

• Communication declared inadmissible on account of lack of exhaustion of local remedies.
• Case may be resubmitted when local remedies have been properly exhausted or if the complainant proves that local remedies are unavailable, ineffective or unreasonably prolonged.

Rules and key headnotes

The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.