150. The Court therefore dismisses Respondent's argument according to which the Applicants were partly responsible for the delay. iii. Conduct of the domestic judicial authorities 151. During the public hearing, the Applicants allege that at the Resident Magistrate's Court in Moshi, "there were over 55 adjournments in the life of the Case, adding that in the first four years of the case, only one witness testified, and throughout the cases, "the Applicants constantly questioned the very length of the trials ... , up to a year after they had been charged, the most frequent reason for seeking adjournment was that they were still constituting the Police file, that investigations were still ongoing". The Respondent did not challenge this assertion of the Applicants. 152. The Applicants further state that in an effort to push the matter before the High Court, they wrote and attempted to communicate with their counsel in vain, so they wrote a letter to the High Court on 16 August 2013, requesting it to set a date for the hearing of their matter as ordered by the Court of Appeal but that letter has not been responded to. 153. Even assuming that the defence counsel were trying to delay the process, there rests a special duty upon the authorities of domestic courts to ensure that all those who play a role in the proceedings do their utmost to avoid any unnecessary delay. Judges also have the right, as well as the duty, to actively monitor and ensure that judicial proceedings before them comply with the reasonable time requirement. The European Court of Human Rights has held, in Cuscani v. the United Kingdom, for 44 example that "the trial judge is the ultimate guardian of fairness"11, and expects a more pro-active attitude of the trial judge.12 154. Therefore, looking at the European Court's case-law, delays that have been attributed to the State in criminal cases include the transfer of cases between courts, the hearing of cases against two or more accused together, the communication of judgment to the accused and the making and hearing of appeals. 13