37
give the States blanket authority to suspend them; nor is the State
permitted to suspend them simply because there is no law that says
otherwise.
Finally, the suspension of guarantees must not be
incompatible with other obligations and should not result in any form
of discrimination.
106.
Arguments of the State:
a)
the certified copies of the court record show that Mr. Castillo Petruzzi
was detained on October 15, 1993, and made a statement the
following November 4. This proves that “he was in isolation […] or
incommunicado for fifteen days, not thirty”;
b)
“From [1980] onward, terrorism created a very tense situation in Peru
[…] forcing the competent authorities to implement the laws that the
circumstances dictated.” Given the situation, the Executive Branch
used the authorities conferred under Articles 231.a of the 1979
Constitution and 137.1 of the 1993 Constitution to declare a 60-day
state of emergency in the affected areas, regulated by a “body of
stringent laws”; and
c)
the Commission is bringing a case against the State for allegedly
violating Article 7 of the Convention, even though rights had been
suspended because of the terrorism rampant in the country. Such
suspensions are permissible under Article 27(2) of the Convention,
which does not list Article 7 as one of the non-derogable rights.
107. The Court observes that the Commission did not allege violation of Article 7 in
its application; it did so only in its final pleading. However, this does not prevent this
Tribunal from examining, during the proceedings on the merits, the Commission’s
arguments concerning the defendants’ prolonged detention.
108. Article 5 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter the “European Convention” or “Rome
Convention”) provides that “[e]veryone arrested or detained … shall be brought
promptly before a judge,” the assumption being that anyone deprived of his freedom
without any form of judicial control must be either released or brought promptly
before a judge. The European Court of Human Rights held that while the word
“promptly” must be interpreted with due regard for the “attendant circumstances,”
no situation, however grave, gave the authorities the power to prolong incarceration
unduly without violating Article 5.3 of the European Convention.85
109. In the instant case, the detention occurred amid a terrible disruption of public
law and order that escalated in 1992 and 1993 with acts of terrorism that left many
victims in their wake. In response to these events, the State adopted emergency
measures, one of which was to allow those suspected of treason to be detained
without a lawful court order. As for Peru’s allegation that the state of emergency
that was declared involved a suspension of Article 7 of the Convention, the Court has
repeatedly held that the suspension of guarantees must not exceed the limits strictly
85.
Cf. Eur. Court H. R., Brogan and Others Case, decision of 23 March 1988, Series A No. 145-B,
paras. 58-59, 61-62.