The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled on Wednesday that Nigeria violated the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in its response to the protests that took place in October 2020, according to a statement published by the court.

In its ruling, the court found that Nigerian authorities violated three Nigerian citizens’ “right to life, security of person, freedom of expression, assembly and association, prohibition of torture, the duty of the state to investigate, and the right to effective remedy,” as stated in articles 1, 4, 6, 9, 10, and 11 of the ACHPR. The violations took place in 2020 during mass protests against police brutality that swept the country.

Justice Koroma Mohamed Sengu, the judge who delivered the verdict, specified that the court dismissed the allegations of breach of the right to life according to Article 4 of the ACHPR raised by the applicants. Judge Sengu also added that the three claimants don’t have the right to an effective remedy. Nevertheless, the court held that the Nigerian government disregarded several articles of the ACHPR which constituted fundamental breaches of human rights.

Consequently, the court ordered the Nigerian Federal Government to compensate each claimant whose rights under the ACHPR were violated. Additionally, the court ordered Nigerian authorities to investigate the violations and prosecute the perpetrators. It added that Nigeria’s government must comply with its obligations under the ACHPR and gave the government a six-month notice to report on the measures it will take to implement Wednesday’s judgement.

The case was filed by three Nigerian citizens who claimed they were victims of human rights abuses during the EndSARS protests back in October 2020. The demonstrations broke out to denounce police brutality committed by a Nigerian police force unit called the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) following the death of a Nigerian man named Daniel Chibuike in the city of Lagos.

The first applicant claimed that she witnessed and recorded police forces shooting protesters and that she had to live in an asylum because of threatening phone calls. The second applicant alleged that the police shot at protesters after cutting electricity. She added that she was personally hospitalised because of the use of tear gas by police forces. The last applicant stated that she was shot during the protests and didn’t receive proper medical care because soldiers refused an ambulance entry.

In response to the applicants’ allegations, Nigeria’s government denied all their claims and considered the protests unlawful. It asserted that the security agents were bound by “strict rules of engagement” and did not shoot at protesters. It also added that the three applicants’ participation in the protests wasn’t peaceful and that they stirred violence among the crowd.

The October 2020 protests caught the world’s attention because of the excessive use of force by the now-defunct SARS unit. The UN’s Secretary General had called on Nigerian authorities to put an end to police violence. Following this, the governor of Lagos announced a judicial investigation into the human rights violations that occurred during the protests.