Wakilii

Gombert v Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (Application No. 038-2016)

African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights · [2018] AfCHPR 4 · 2018 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Application to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights alleging violation of fair trial rights by Ivorian courts in a contractual dispute
Decision
Application declared inadmissible on the ground of prior settlement by ECOWAS Court of Justice

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights held that it had jurisdiction but declared the application inadmissible on the ground that the dispute had been previously settled by the ECOWAS Court of Justice in accordance with the principles of the African Charter. The Court found that the parties, claims, and subject matter were identical to those adjudicated by ECOWAS, satisfying the conditions for prior settlement under Article 56(7) of the Charter.

Outcome

Application declared inadmissible on the ground of prior settlement by ECOWAS Court of Justice

Facts

The applicant, a French national and company director, entered into an agreement in 1999 to purchase an industrial citrus plantation in Côte d'Ivoire for 200 million CFA Francs. The vendor received 160 million CFA Francs but refused to sign the deed of sale. The applicant filed proceedings in Ivorian courts to compel completion. Between 2000 and 2014, multiple decisions were rendered by various Ivorian courts including the Divo Court, Daloa Court of Appeal, Abidjan Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court. The applicant, dissatisfied with some decisions, brought the matter before the ECOWAS Court of Justice, which dismissed his claims in two judgments dated 25 April 2015 and 17 May 2016. The applicant then filed an application with the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights on 11 July 2016, alleging violations of his fair trial rights by the Ivorian courts.

Issues

  1. Whether the application is admissible having regard to exhaustion of local remedies.
  2. Whether the application was filed within a reasonable time after exhaustion of local remedies.
  3. Whether the dispute has been previously settled by the ECOWAS Court of Justice within the meaning of Article 56(7) of the African Charter.

Orders

  • Court has jurisdiction.
  • Inadmissibility objection for non-exhaustion of local remedies dismissed.
  • Inadmissibility objection for failure to submit the application within a reasonable time dismissed.
  • Inadmissibility objection on the grounds that the dispute has been settled within the meaning of Article 56(7) of the Charter upheld.
  • Application declared inadmissible.
  • Each party to bear its own costs.

Rules and key headnotes

Admissibility — Exhaustion of Local Remedies — Proceedings Against Private Entities
Exhaustion of local remedies proceeds from the use of all procedural steps provided under the legal system for settlement of issues before competent national authorities. Where the initial dispute is between private parties, domestic proceedings may properly be instituted against the private entity rather than the State, and this satisfies the exhaustion requirement where the highest competent court has rendered a final decision.
Admissibility — Reasonable Time — Proceedings Before Regional Courts
Where an applicant exercises the option under Article 56(7) of the African Charter to bring a matter before another regional court before seizing the African Court, the period spent in those proceedings is a factor that may be taken into consideration in assessing the reasonableness of the time within which the application was filed.
Admissibility — Prior Settlement — Identity of Parties
For purposes of determining whether a case has been previously settled under Article 56(7) of the African Charter, identity of parties is established where a company acted as applicant through its chairman and chief executive officer in the first proceedings, and that same individual brings the subsequent application in his personal capacity, where the rights claimed by the company directly affect the individual's rights as founder, president, and majority shareholder.
Admissibility — Prior Settlement — Identity of Claims
Identity of claims for purposes of Article 56(7) of the African Charter extends to claims that are additional, alternative, or derivative of claims examined in a previous case. A claim not expressly invoked in earlier proceedings may nonetheless be considered part of a bloc of claims where it is not detachable from those claims already examined.
Admissibility — Prior Settlement — Three Conditions
A case is considered settled within the meaning of Article 56(7) of the African Charter where three conditions converge: identity of the parties, identity of the applications or their supplementary or alternative nature, and the existence of a first decision on the merits.
Admissibility — Settlement in Accordance with Principles of the Charter
For a prior settlement to render an application inadmissible under Article 56(7) of the African Charter, the settlement must have been made in accordance with the principles of the Charter. This condition is satisfied where the previous court examined the case on the basis of the same provisions of the Charter as those relied upon in the subsequent application.
Admissibility — Cumulative Conditions
The conditions of admissibility under Article 56 of the African Charter are cumulative. When one condition is not fulfilled, the entire application cannot be received, and there is no need to make a determination on the other conditions of admissibility.

Legislation cited (26)

  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 3
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 7
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 7(1)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 7(1)(d)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 8
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 56
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 56(5)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 56(6)
  • African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 56(7)
  • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 6(2)
  • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 22
  • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 28(7)
  • Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights Article 34(6)
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 2(2)
  • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 3(4)
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 7
  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 8
  • Rules of Court Rule 8(2)
  • Rules of Court Rule 30
  • Rules of Court Rule 35(3)
  • Rules of Court Rule 39
  • Rules of Court Rule 39(1)
  • Rules of Court Rule 40
  • Rules of Court Rule 40(6)
  • Rules of Court Rule 40(7)
  • Rules of Court Rule 60(5)

Cases cited (10)

  • Norbert Zongo et al v Burkina Faso (Application No. 013-2011)
  • APDH v Côte d'Ivoire (Application No. 001-2014)
  • Alex Thomas v United Republic of Tanzania (Application No. 005-2013)
  • Kennedy Owino Onyachi and Charles John Mwanini Njoka v Tanzania (Application No. 003-2015)
  • Luke Munyandu Tembani and Benjamin John Freeth v Angola and thirteen Others (Communication No. 409-12)
  • James Katabazi et al v Secretary General of the East African Community and Another (Reference No. 1-2007)
  • Velásquez-Rodríguez v Honduras (Application No. 7920)
  • Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia-Herzegovina v. Serbia-and-Montenegro) Judgment of 26 February 2007, ICJ., Collection 2007
  • Société AGRILAND v The State of Côte d'Ivoire (Judgment No. ECW/CCJ/JUD)
  • ECW/CCJ/RUL/08/16 of 17 May, 2016

Full judgment

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

Gombert v Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (Application No. 038-2016) [2018] AfCHPR 4 (22 March 2018)
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.