Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) in his capacity as a doctor, which, according to the Court, “is not only an essentially legitimate service, but also one that a doctor is obliged to provide.” 119 123. The foregoing is supplemented by the considerations of the Court when issuing Advisory Opinion OC-5/85 on Compulsory Membership in an Association Prescribed by Law for the Practice of Journalism. 120 In this opinion, the Inter-American Court stated that a journalist who was not a member of a journalists’ association could not be criminally sanctioned owing to the interrelationship between the right to freedom of expression and the exercise of journalism. In other words, the journalist who was not a member of a journalists’ association was making legitimate use of this right; thus the Court declared that the Costa Rican law that decreed criminal sanctions for exercising the profession of journalism without being a member of the said association was incompatible with the American Convention. 124. In the case of Brewer Carías v. Venezuela also, we are faced with the fact that it is sought to criminalize an action inherent in the exercise of the legal profession, which, by its very nature, is lawful. Even though different professions are involved, the Court’s criterion of protecting the exercise of a profession should prevail; and, in the case of Mr. Brewer, this means the exercise of the legal profession and defense of the rule of law. The failure to analyze the merits of the case of the criminal prosecution of Mr. Brewer Carías restricted what should be the main task of an international human rights court: the defense of the human being in the face of the high-handedness of the State. 125. An international court of human rights must, above all else, defend the rule of law – and in this specific case, also the exercise of the legal profession – which is intrinsic to a democratic regime, the values that inspire the inter-American system as a whole and, particularly, the principles that govern the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Manuel E. Ventura Robles Judge Eduardo Ferrer Mac-Gregor Poisot Judge Pablo Saavedra Alessandri Secretary Series C No. 115. 119 Case of De la Cruz Flores v. Peru. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 18, 2004. Series C No. 115, para. 102. 120 Cf. Compulsory Membership in an Association Prescribed by Law for the Practice of Journalism (Arts. 13 and 29 American Convention on Human Rights). Advisory Opinion OC-5/85 of November 13, 1985. Series A No. 5. 33