Wakilii

Dioumessi and Others v Guinea (Communication 70 of 1992)

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights · [1995] ACHPR 7 · 1995 Communication Inadmissible AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights alleging violations of the African Charter following detention without trial
Decision
Communication inadmissible due to inability to contact complainants

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.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The African Commission declared the communication inadmissible. Under Article 56 of the African Charter, a communication must fulfil all admissibility conditions, including identification of complainants so that notifications may be sent. Despite repeated attempts, the Secretariat could not obtain the complainants' addresses. Without this essential information, the communication could not proceed.

Outcome

Communication inadmissible due to inability to contact complainants

Facts

Following a coup d'état in Guinea on 4 July 1984, the complainants alleged they were arrested, tortured, and incarcerated for three years without charge or trial. They submitted a communication to the African Commission on 15 November 1991 alleging violations of their rights to security of person and fair trial, and requesting compensation. The communication contained no mailing address for the complainants. The Government of Guinea was notified in November 1992 and requested time to respond, but no memorandum was received despite numerous reminders. All attempts by the Secretariat to obtain the complainants' addresses proved unsuccessful.

Issues

  1. Whether the communication is admissible where the Secretariat has been unable to obtain the complainants' mailing addresses for service of notifications.

Orders

  • Communication declared inadmissible.

Rules and key headnotes

Human Rights — Admissibility of Communications — Identity and Contact Information of Complainants
A communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights must fulfil all conditions of Article 56 of the African Charter, including the identity and contact information of complainants so that notifications may be sent to them.

Legislation cited (1)

  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 56

Full judgment

↓ Download PDF

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

Dioumessi and Others v Guinea (Communication 70 of 1992) [1995] ACHPR 7 (7 October 1995)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.