45
punished, and for the State to avoid delays in the processing of the
criminal case “through purely delay tactics by the defense counsel of
the accused,” to order that the evidence offered by the Bulacio family
over these 12 years be submitted, and to instruct the Public
Prosecutor’s Office to “play a truly leading part” in the investigation;
b)
the State should take such actions and legal steps as necessary for the
detention places to be adequate and to have due permanent control.
In this regard, they pointed out that minors are held at the police
stations when they are detained, in places where adult detainees are
also held.
So as to ensure physical safety and decent lodging
conditions in cases of detention of children and adolescents, it is
necessary to forbid that they be held together with adults, and it
should be specified that the detention centers be especially designed
for this purpose, with permanent control by especially trained staff;
c)
the State must order such actions and legal steps as may be necessary
for the Argentine legal system to explicitly regulate causes for
detention of children, pursuant to the terms of the American
Convention, and establish a maximum period of detention and the
respective notice to the next of kin and to a competent judge; and
d)
the State must carry out “acts or works with public repercussion or
scope such that they have [the] effect of preserving remembrance of
the victims, reestablishment of their dignity, consolation to their
relatives, and transmission of an official message [...] for nonrecidivism of [said violations of human rights].” For this, it is necessary
to promote and fund a documentary on the case of David Bulacio, by
means of a public contest, with a jury constituted with consent by the
next of kin of the victim, and to ensure its dissemination in the movie
theaters and on television. It is also necessary for the international
responsibility of the State for the illegal detention, torture, and death
of Walter David Bulacio to be publicly and massively recognized, as
well as its responsibility for not having investigated, for over ten years,
what happened, and for not having identified those responsible.
Acknowledgment of this responsibility must be published in the most
important printed media of the country; and the State must use all
effective means within its power for said symbolic measures to
generate interest and involvement of the media.
Arguments of the Commission
107. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to make non-pecuniary
reparations, as follows:
a)
the State must adopt such measures as may be necessary to give
legal effect to the obligation to investigate and effectively punish the
authors of the illegal detention, torture, and death of Walter David
Bulacio. In this regard, the State must ensure that extinguishment of
the criminal case will be avoided, as well as unnecessary delays in its
processing; it must also order that the evidence offered by the
attorneys for the Bulacio family throughout the 10 years of the
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents