and risk of suffering irreparable harm to his personal integrity and his life. The Court finds it
reasonable to presume, based on the body of evidence, that Mr. Osorio Rivera suffered treatment
contrary to the dignity inherent in the human being while he was in the custody of the State. The
foregoing constituted a violation of Articles 5(1) and 5(2) of the American Convention, in relation to
Article 1(1) of this instrument. In addition, the Court considers that the Commission’s argument
that this treatment should be classified as torture refers to violations that have already been
examined under the right to personal integrity, so that it does not find it necessary to make an
additional ruling in that regard.
169. In the case of Article 4 of the American Convention, the Court has considered that, owing to
the nature of enforced disappearance, the victim is in an aggravated situation of vulnerability,
which gives rise to the risk that several different rights may be violated, including the right to life.
In addition, the Court has established that enforced disappearance has frequently included the
execution of those detained, in secret and without any type of trial, followed by the concealment of
the corpse in order to erase any material trace of the crime and to ensure the impunity of those
who committed it, which signifies a violation of the right to life recognized in Article 4 of the
Convention. 280
170. With regard to the alleged violation of Article 3 of the Convention, the Court notes that,
according to its most recent case law, owing to the multiple and complex nature of this gross
human rights violation, an enforced disappearance can include a specific violation of this right,
because the consequence of the refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or whereabouts
of the person is, together with the other elements of the disappearance, the “removal from the
protection of the law” or the violation of the personal and legal safety of the individual that directly
prevents the recognition of juridical personality. 281 Over and above the fact that the disappeared
person cannot continue enjoying and exercising others and, eventually, all the rights to which he is
entitled, his disappearance seeks not only one of the most serious forms of removing a person
from the whole sphere of the law, but also to deny his very existence, leaving him in a sort of legal
limbo or indeterminate legal situation before society and the State. 282 In this case, the Court
considers that Jeremías Osorio Rivera was placed in a situation of legal indetermination that
prevented him from the possibility of possessing or exercising his rights in general, so that it led to
a violation of his right to juridical personality.
171. Lastly, based on all the preceding considerations, the Court concludes that Peru incurred
international responsibility for the enforced disappearance of Jeremías Osorio Rivera that started
on April 30, 1991, without his whereabouts being known to date, so that it violated the rights
recognized in Articles 7, 5(1), 5(2), 4(1), and 3 of the American Convention, in relation to Article
1(1) of this instrument, to the detriment of Jeremías Osorio Rivera. Taking this into account, the
Court finds that the State is responsible for the violation of the right to personal liberty and
personal integrity, to life, and to juridical personality of Jeremías Osorio Rivera, in relation to the
provisions of Article I(a) of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons.
The assessment of the obligation to ensure the said rights by a diligent and effective investigation
into what happened will be made in the following chapter of this Judgment.
280
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra, para. 157, and Case of González Medina and family
members v. Dominican Republic, supra, para. 185.
281
Cf. Case of Anzualdo Castro v. Peru. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs, supra, paras. 90 and 91,
and Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
September 4, 2012, Series C No. 250, para. 118.
282
Cf. Case of Anzualdo Castro v. Peru. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs, supra, paras. 90 and 91,
and Case of González Medina and family members v. Dominican Republic, supra, para. 188.
62
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