174. In this regard, the Court reiterates that, in keeping with the provisions of
Article 53 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure, “[t]he States may not prosecute
alleged victims, witnesses or expert witnesses, or take reprisals against them or
their next of kin, owing to the testimony or expert opinions they provide to the
Court.” This is also applicable to the representatives of the victims.
175. In addition, the Court recalls that, according to Article 68(1) of the American
Convention, “[t]he States Parties to the Convention undertake to comply with the
judgment of the Court in any case to which they are parties.” Furthermore, the
Court reiterates that the obligation to comply with the provisions of the judgments
of the Court corresponds to a basic principle of international law, supported by
international case law, according to which the States are required to fulfill their
international treaty-based obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda) and, as
this Court has indicated previously and pursuant to Article 27 of the 1969 Vienna
Convention on the Law of Treaties, they may not invoke the provisions of internal
law as justification for failure to perform a treaty.204 The convention-based
obligations of State Parties are binding upon all State authorities and organs.205
176. Based on the above, the Court finds that it is not necessary to order a
specific measure of reparation to guarantee compliance in good faith with the
obligations arising from this judgment, or to protect the victim and her
representatives from possible reprisals, because the State has assumed these
obligations through the direct application of the basic principles of international law,
the American Convention, and the Court’s Rules of Procedure.
C.
Compensation
1.
Pecuniary damage
177. In its case law, the Court has developed the concept of pecuniary damage
and the situations in which it must be compensated.206
1.1 Arguments of the parties
178. The Commission did not ask the Court for a specific amount for this concept
in favor of the victim. However, it asked the Court to “order the State to pay the
salary and the work-related and/or fringe benefits that the victim has failed to
receive since her removal and until her reinstatement.”
179. For their part, the representatives stated that, from the time the victim was
removed from her post, “she ceased to receive her salary and other work-related
204
Cf. International Responsibility for the Promulgation and Enforcement of Laws in Violation of the
Convention (Arts. 1 and 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights), supra note 176, para. 35;
Case of Gomes Lund et al. (Guerrilha do Araguaia) v. Brazil, supra note 22, para. 177, and Case of
Cabrera García and Montiel Flores v. Mexico, supra note 13, para. 59.
205
Cf. International Responsibility for the Promulgation and Enforcement of Laws in Violation of the
Convention (Arts. 1 and 2 of the American Convention on Human Rights), supra note 176, para. 35;
Case of Zambrano Vélez et al. v. Ecuador. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of July 4, 2007.
Series C No. 166, para. 104, and Case of Gomes Lund et al. (Guerrilha do Araguaia) v. Brazil, supra
note 22, para. 177.
206
This Court has established that pecuniary damage involves “the loss of or detriment to the
victims’ income, the expenses incurred as a result of the facts, and the consequences of a pecuniary
nature that have a causal connection to the facts of the case.” Cf. Case of Bámaca Velásquez v.
Guatemala. Reparations and costs. Judgment of February 22, 2002. Series C No. 91, para. 43; Case of
Cabrera García and Montiel Flores v. Mexico, supra note 13, para. 248, and Case of Vera Vera et al. v.
Ecuador, supra note 19, para. 128.
52
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