Judgment No CCZ 8/16 4 Const. Application No CCZ 48/15 Having regard to the respective arguments of the parties and the relief sought by the applicant, I perceive the issues for determination in casu to be the following: • Whether a life sentence imposed without the possibility of parole constitutes a violation of human dignity or amounts to inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of sections 51 and 53 of the Constitution. • Whether sections 112, 113, 114 and 115 of the Prisons Act are unconstitutional to the extent that they exclude whole life prisoners from the parole process and thereby contravene the right to equal protection and benefit of the law under section 56 of the Constitution. • Whether the further incarceration of the applicant amounts to a breach of his rights to liberty, human dignity and protection against inhuman or degrading treatment under sections 49, 51 and 53 of the Constitution. • In the event of an affirmative answer to any or all of the foregoing, the nature and extent of the relief that should be granted to the applicant, i.e. his immediate release from prison or some other appropriate remedy. Human Dignity and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment Section 51 of the Constitution enshrines the right to human dignity in the following terms: “Every person has inherent dignity in their private and public life, and the right to have that dignity respected and protected.” The inevitable corollary of human dignity, viz. freedom from torture and similar ill-treatment, is guaranteed by s 53 of the Constitution: