Chapter 7 • The Right to a Fair Trial: Part II – From Trial to Final Judgement avenue of appeal to ‘competent national organs’ in criminal cases bearing such penalties clearly violates” article 7(1)(a) of the Charter, “and increases the risk that even severe violations may go unredressed”.228 In the case of Forum of Conscience concerning the trial and subsequent execution of 24 soldiers, the Commission concluded that the deprivation of the right to appeal constituted a violation of article 7(1)(a) and that this failure to provide due process amounted to an arbitrary deprivation of their lives contrary to article 4 of the Charter.229 The right to appeal in article 7(1)(a) of the African Charter does not, however, appear to be limited to criminal proceedings as such in that it allows for appeals “to competent national organs” against acts violating one’s “fundamental rights” in general. 5.1 The right to full review The Human Rights Committee has made it clear that, regardless of the name of the remedy or appeal in question, “it must meet the requirements for which the Covenant provides”,230 which implies that the review must concern both the legal and material aspects of the person’s conviction and sentence. In other words, in addition to pure questions of law, the review must provide “for a full evaluation of the evidence and the conduct of the trial”.231 In the case of Gómez, the author complained of a violation of article 14(5); since the Spanish Supreme Court could not re-evaluate evidence, his judicial review had thus been incomplete. The State party was not able to refute this allegation and the Committee consequently concluded that “the lack of any possibility of fully reviewing the author’s conviction and sentence, ... the review having been limited to the formal or legal aspects of the conviction, means that the guarantees provided for in article 14, paragraph 5, of the Covenant have not been met”.232 In yet another case against Spain, the same provision was violated since there was no lawyer available to submit any grounds of appeal and, therefore, the authors’ appeal “was not effectively considered by the Court of Appeal”.233 With regard to leave to appeal, the Committee has however accepted that “a system not allowing for automatic right to appeal may still be in conformity with” article 14(5) of the Covenant “as long as the examination of an application for leave to appeal entails a full review, that is, both on the basis of the evidence and of the law, of 228 Ibid., para. 28. 229 ACHPR, Forum of Conscience (on behalf of 24 soldiers) v. Sierra Leone, Communication No. 223/98, decision adopted during the 28th Ordinary Session, 23 October – 6 November 2000, para. 19 of the decision as published at http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comcases/223-98.html. 230 Communication No. 701/1996, Gómez v. Spain (Views adopted on 20 July 2000), in UN doc. GAOR, A/55/40 (vol. II), p. 109, para. 11.1. 231 Communications Nos. 623, 624, 626, 627/1995, V. P. Domukovsky et al. v. Georgia (Views adopted on 6 April 1998), in UN doc. GAOR, A/53/40 (vol. II), p. 111, para. 18.11. 232 Communication No. 701/1996, Gómez v. Spain (Views adopted on 20 July 2000), in UN doc. A/55/40 (vol. II), p. 109, para. 11.1. 233 Communication No. 526/1993, M. and B. Hill v. Spain (Views adopted on 2 April 1997), in UN doc. GAOR, A/52/40 (vol. II), p. 18, para. 14.3. 306 Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers