human rights violations; they include Ecuador, 279 El Salvador, 280 Guatemala, 281 Nicaragua, 282 Paraguay, 283 Panama, 284 Uruguay 285 and Venezuela. 286 269. In sum, the Court notes that, in this specific case, the application of the statute of limitations as an obstacle to criminal prosecution would be contrary to international law and, in particular, the American Convention on Human Rights. This Court finds it clear that there is sufficient evidence to affirm that the non-applicability of the statute of limitations to crimes against humanity is a customary law within international law that was fully established at the time of the facts, as well as at the present time. ii) Principle of ne bis in idem and substantive res judicata 270. The principle of ne bis in idem is a cornerstone of the guarantees of the administration of justice and of criminal guarantees according to which a person cannot be subjected to a second trial for the same facts. 287 271. The exception to this principle, as in the case of the statute of limitations, arises from the absolute nature of the prohibition of crimes against humanity and the international community’s expectation of justice. As the International Law Commission has indicated, this is based on the fact that “an individual may be tried by an international criminal court for a crime against the peace and security of mankind arising out of the same act that was the subject of the previous national court proceedings if the individual was tried by a national court for an ‘ordinary’ crime rather than one of the more serious crimes under the Code.” 288 “In such a case, the individual has not been tried or punished for the same crime but for a ‘lesser crime’ that does not encompass the full extent of his criminal conduct. Thus, an individual could be tried by a national court for murder and tried a second time by an Article 80 of the Constitution of Ecuador (2008) refers to the non-applicability of the statute of limitations for “actions and punishments for the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, forced disappearance of persons, or crimes of agression against a State.” 279 280 Article 99 of the Penal Code of El Salvador, Decree No. 1030, prohibits the statute of limitations for “torture, acts of terrorism, abduction, genocide, violation of the laws and customs of war, forced disappearance of persons, and persecution based on political, ideological or racial grounds or on sex or religion.” Article 8 of the National Reconciliation Law of Guatemala, Decree No. 145-96, excludes the statute of limitations for genocide, torture, forced disappearance and “those crimes that may not be subject to statutory limitations or the extinction of criminal responsibilities pursuant to domestic law or the international treaties ratified by Guatemala.” 281 282 Articles 16 and 131 of the Penal Code, Law No. 641 of 2007, excludes from the sphere of application of the statute of limitations the following crimes, among others: slavery and the slave trade; crimes against the international order; crimes of international trafficking of persons; sexual crimes against children and adolescents, and “any other crime that may be prosecuted in Nicaragua pursuant to the international instruments ratified by the country.” Article 5 of the Constitution of Paraguay establishes that “[…] Genocide and torture, as well as the forced disappearance of persons, abduction and murder for political reasons are not subject to the statute of limitations.” This provision is reiterated in Article 102(3) of the 1997 Penal Code, Law No. 1,160/97. 283 284 Article 120 of the Penal Code (2007) prohibits application of the statute of limitations to the crime of forced disappearance, and also to crimes against humanity. Article 75 bis of the Penal Code prohibits application of the statute of limitations to genocide and war crimes, as well as other crimes against the physical integrity of the individual. 285 Article 29 of the Constitution of the Boivarian Republic of Venezuela prohibits the application of the statute of limitations to serious human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 286 Article 8(4) of the American Convention: An accused person acquitted by a non-appealable judgment shall not be subjected to a new trial for the same cause. 287 UN. Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its forty-eighth session (6 May-26 July, 1996). A/51/10. p. 38. Commentary 10 on article 12 of the Draft code of crimes against the peace and security of mankind. 288 69