5
an individual cell, located in a high security block, and also offered him measures of
protection once placed in conditional liberty.
11. Due to its jurisdiction, in the framework of provisional measures, the Court
must consider only those arguments that relate strictly and directly with extreme
gravity, urgency, and the need to avoid irreparable damage to persons. In this way,
to decide if the force of the provisional measures will be maintained, the Tribunal
must analyze if the situation of extreme gravity and urgency which determined the
adoption of the measures persists, or if new circumstances, equally grave and
urgent, merit they be maintened. Any other matter can only be put before the Court
through a corresponding contentious case.4
12. The maintenance of the measures of protection requires an evaluation
regarding the persistence of the situation of extreme gravity and urgency so as to
avoid irreparable damages that originate from them,5 based on the information
gathered from the evidence.6 From there, the party that requires that the measures
continue must present proof of the reasons for it.7
13. The Tribunal ordered the adoption of and maintained the provisional measures
in favor of Mr. Arias Alturo due to the threats received for his participation as a
witness before the Court, as well as for the investigation of the forced disappearance
of the victims of the present case. The beneficiary has been under the protection of
the provisional measures for more than fifteen years, and despite this, has
expressed that he will not offer information in the mentioned criminal proceeding
because he does not feel he can count on the necessary security conditions.
14. The Tribunal has not received concrete or specific information that Mr. Arias
Alturo had been the object of any threat or intimidation in the last few years. In this
sense, although the representatives mentioned that he had been visited by state
agents while deprived of his liberty (supra Considering clause 8), the Court does not
have information regarding whether such visits were in fact carried out, who were
4
Cf. Matter of James and others. Provisional Measures regarding Trinidad and Tobago. Order of the
Court of August 29, 1998, Considering clause six; Matter of the Urso Branco Prison. Provisional Measures
regarding Brazil. Order of the Court of November 25, 2009, Considering fourth, and Matter of Guerrero
Larez, Provisional Measures regarding Venezuela. Order of the Court of November 17, 2009, Considering
clause sixteen.
5
Cf. Matter of the Kankuamo Indigenous People. Provisional Measures regarding Colombia. Order
of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of April 3, 2009, Considering clause seven; Matters of Matter
of Monagas Judicial Confinement Center ("La Pica"); Matter of Yare I and Yare II Capital Region
Penitentiary Center; Matter of the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region (Uribana Prison),
and Matter of Capital El Rodeo I & El Rodeo II Judicial Confinement Center, supra note 3, Considering
clause four, and Matter of A. J. and others. Provisional Measures regarding Haití. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of September 21, 2009, Considering clause eighteen.
6
Cf. Case of Carpio Nicolle and others. Provisional Measures regarding Guatemala. Order of the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 6, 2009, Considering clause fifteen; Matters of Matter of
Monagas Judicial Confinement Center ("La Pica"); Matter of Yare I and Yare II Capital Region Penitentiary
Center; Matter of the Penitentiary Center of the Central Occidental Region (Uribana Prison), and Matter of
Capital El Rodeo I & El Rodeo II Judicial Confinement Center, supra note 3, Considering clause four, and
Matter of A. J. and others, supra note 5, Considering clause eighteen.
7
Cf. Case of Carpio and others, supra note 6, Considering clause eighteen.