Rigoberto Barrios
US$ 60,000.00
Oscar José Barrios
US$ 57,500.00
Wilmer José Flores Barrios
US$ 60,000.00
Juan José Barrios
US$ 55,000.00
2. Non-pecuniary damage
374. In its case law, the Court has developed the concept of non-pecuniary damage and
has established that this “may include both the suffering and anguish caused to the direct
victim and to his next of kin, the harm to values that are very significant for the individual,
and the changes of a non-pecuniary nature in the living conditions of the victim or his
family.”442
375. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to make reparation to the victims
for the non-pecuniary damage suffered.
376. The representatives indicated that the non-pecuniary damage should be the object of
financial compensation established on the basis of criteria of equity. Regarding the deceased
victims, they had been executed with extreme violence and, since they were aware of the
pattern of persecution against their family, it can be presumed that they experienced great
fear and suffering, as did those who received threats because they had witnessed or
denounced previous violations. Consequently, they requested the sum of US$80,000.00
(eighty thousand United States dollars) for non-pecuniary damage for each victim who had
been executed. In addition, Gustavo Ravelo, Jesús Ravelo, Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño,
Oscar José Barrios and Víctor Daniel Cabrera Barrios were subjected to disproportionate use
of force during their detention. Furthermore, Luisa del Carmen Barrios, Gustavo Ravelo,
Jesús Ravelo, Elbira Barrios, Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño and Néstor Caudí Barrios were
harassed and threatened on repeated occasions. Based on the foregoing, the
representatives requested the sum of US$5,000.00 (five thousand United States dollars) for
non-pecuniary damage. Moreover, with regard to the immediate family of the victims who
were executed, they requested compensation for non-pecuniary damage of US$50,000.00
(fifty thousand United States dollars).
377. In addition, regarding the other members of the Barrios family, they asked the Court
to take into consideration the severe anxiety owing to the feelings of insecurity,
helplessness and fear owing to the lack of justice for the violations perpetrated and the
disintegration of their family, and, for this, they requested compensation of US$5,000.00
(five thousand United States dollars) for each member of the Barrios family. Furthermore,
they asked the Court to order the State to grant the additional amount of US$10,000.00
(ten thousand United States dollars) to Eloisa Barrios, for “her active participation in all the
steps taken to clarify the deaths of the members of her family and for the emotional burden
she assumed as her family’s spokesperson in the search for justice.”
378. Based on its case law, and taking into consideration the circumstances of the instant
case, the violations committed, the suffering caused, the time elapsed, the denial of justice,
as well as the change in their living conditions, the proven effects on the personal integrity
of the next of kin of the victims and the other consequences of a non-pecuniary nature that
they suffered, the Court establishes, in equity, the following amounts in favor of the victims,
as compensation for non-pecuniary damage:
442
Cf. Case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán Morales et al.), supra note 43, para. 84, and Case of Contreras
et al., supra note 405, para. 224.
111
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