The petition concerns the arrest and criminal proceedings for military fraud (based on a series of accounting and administrative irregularities) carried out against 20 Argentine military officers. The legal proceedings were initiated in October 1980 under military jurisdiction and substantiated under the Military Justice Code of Argentina.

The Inter-American Court analyzed aspects of the right to personal liberty and elements to be observed to avoid arbitrary and unlawful detentions. In addition, it analyzed the scope of pre-trial detention and the right to a fair trial under the functioning and jurisdiction of military courts.