3
should be remedied by the Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua. It further invokes
the remedy whereby, in the light of that judgment, the Inter-American Court may
examine the Judiciary's possible ineffectiveness to rule on the investigation and
punishment of those responsible for the death of Mr. Jean Paul Genie-Lacayo (paras.
47, 94 and 96).
b.
That on February 12, 1997, the Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua
rendered a judgment in which it dismissed the application for judicial review filed
against the "decision" that acquitted the defendants in the Genie Lacayo case, on the
ground that the application to appear did not specify any injuries as it is required to
do by Nicaragua's Law of Military Procedure, but, instead, the Supreme Court of
Justice of Nicaragua's was asked to grant a period for those injuries to be specified,
pursuant to the Law of Judicial Review in Criminal Matters.
c.
That in the appeal filed in the Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua the rules
of ordinary procedure were applied as "a conscious strategy" to determine whether it
would apply those ordinary rules to the appeal or whether it would employ rules of
military procedure. However, the Supreme Court followed the military procedure for
disposing of the appeal, arguing that "since there was not manifestation of injuries
that contradict [the] grounds [of the judgment appealed, it] simply calls for
confirmation." As stated in the brief submitted to the Inter-American Court, this
action "breache[s] the requirement of effective recourse provided in the
Convention."
d.
That while Decree 591 makes provision for the remedy of judicial review, its
scope is limited by Article 247(3) which states that the Supreme Court of Justice
"may not alter the situation of the person who has been acquitted of a crime."
Consequently, according to the Inter-American Commission, judicial review in the
military proceedings is only "useful when the defendant has been convicted."
The request for revision submitted to this Court further states that
no Court, national or international, dares to render a judgment on the substance of the
matter: the crime. The State of Nicaragua, with the Supreme Court's judgment of
February 12, 1997, coming after the Judgment of the Inter-American Court, violates the
following articles of the Convention: 25 (Right to Judicial Protection), 25(1) and 25(2);
24 (Right to Equal Protection) and 2 (Domestic Legal Effects... "to give effect to such
rights"). The judicial procedure adopted by the Supreme Court constitutes a denial of
justice.
It further states that the judgment constituted a new juridical act, one that is
decisive and was unknown to the Inter-American Court at the time it delivered its
Judgment of January 29, 1997.
e.
That although Nicaragua claims that it has brought its legislation into line with
the American Convention when it amended Article 18 of Decree 591 with the
promulgation of Law 181 of August 29, 1994, the military legislation applied by the
Supreme Court of Justice of Nicaragua in the Genie Lacayo case remained in force, it
having been excluded from the application of the new provisions; Articles 2 and 24
of the American Convention were therefore violated.
f.
That the remedy of revision is established in the Statute of the International
Court of Justice and has been applied by the arbitration tribunals and permanent
courts. Further, that remedy exists in the proceedings before the Inter-American