The court also ordered Nigeria to conduct a prompt, impartial, and effective investigation into the torture and prosecute those responsible.
Adebayo, in a suit, accused some police officers from Ogun State of subjecting him to severe physical abuse, including beating him with the handle of an axe and tying his limbs with chains to a pole.
He said this ordeal caused him physical injuries, including trauma to his scrotum and left him suffering from significant psychological distress.
However, the respondent, the Federal Government, challenged the jurisdiction of the Court, arguing that the case was filed outside the three-year limitation period stipulated under the Court’s rules, rendering it statute-barred.
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It also argued that the Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the matter, arguing that it would involve reviewing a case that is either pending or already decided by a municipal court within the respondent state.
However, the court, in its judgment sent to our correspondent via email on Thursday, dismissed Nigeria’s preliminary objections, asserting its jurisdiction to hear human rights cases.
It clarified that the three-year limitation period under Article 9(3)(b) of the Court’s Protocol does not apply to cases of human rights violations.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Dupe Atoki, the court held that these acts constituted torture, violating Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, to which Nigeria is a party.