According to a statement issued by the Court here yesterday, Babu Seya’s case against the United Republic of Tanzania, as respondent in the matter, is among four applications that would be determined.
There are two more applications lodged by different people against the respondent. The first is application No. 010/2015 by Anudo Ochieng Anudo and application No. 032 by Kijiji Isiaga. The remaining application was filed by Gombert Jean Claude Roger. In the application No. 006/2015, Babu Seya and his son are alleging violation of human rights byTanzania as the respondent state.
The delivery of the judgment, however, comes a few months after President Magufuli granted them amnesty on the life sentences they were serving for sexually abusing minors. Nguza Viking and his son, Mr Nguza were sentenced to life imprisonment on June 25, 2004 by the Kisutu Resident Magistrate’s Court in Dar es Salaam, after they were found guilty of raping and defiling Mashujaa Primary School pupils aged between six and ten years in Sinza, in Kinondoni District.
They were arrested on October 12, 2003 in connection with the charges before their arraignment together with a teacher at the school on October 16, 2003, facing 10 counts of rape and 11 counts of sodomy. They all pleaded not guilty to all charges. After a full trial, the trial court ruled against the musicians, but the teacher was acquitted. Babu Seya and his three sons were convicted of the offences and appealed to the High Court, but they were unsuccessful. They took the matter to the Court of Appeal where two of his other sons were acquitted.
The appellate court sustained the conviction of Babu Seya and Papii Nguza. After the appeal process, the duo filed an application for review of the judgment, which was also dismissed. Having exhausted all local remedies, the two decided to knock the doors of the African Court. They are asking the Court to rule that their rights were violated. They request the Court to facilitate them with free legal representation or legal assistance and request the Court to appoint experts to provide clarification of the facts of the case and assist the Court in carrying out its task.
The Applicants request an order compelling the Respondent state to release the Applicants from custody and request reparation and any order or remedy that the Court may deem fit to grant. In their application, the two allege that the Respondent state violated Article 1, 2, 3, 5, 7(1)b), 13 and 18(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. They submit that after the arrest, they were not promptly informed of what charges they were being arrested for.
They claim to have been under restraint for four days incommunicado without access to a lawyer or anyone else. Further, while they were in custody, the applicants claim to have been mistreated by police officers who notably insulted them.
They were subsequently charged with rape. According to the applicants, the trial was unjustified for various reasons; that the Court repeatedly dismissed requests to submit evidence, the results of the blood and urine test underwent by the applicants were not presented as evidence in the trial court. Court records show that even while the alleged victims claimed to be infected with HIV/AIDS and Gonorrhea, Babu Seya’s request to test his impotence and therefore his material impossibility to participate in the commission of the alleged crimes, was also rejected.
They state that the court used statements of alleged victims as evidence, where they described from their memory the room where the rape took place, but did not give consideration that the children and their parents visited the applicants’ house before the hearing and studied the room several times. It is alleged further that the applicants’ charges were fabricated in revenge by the former partner of the first Applicant, who was envious of his new engagement