8
had not incurred in any form of prejudgment. This would only have occurred “if the
matter upon which it had ruled […] were the same as that upon which the Mexican
ministerial and jurisdictional instances will have to rule.” The Court deals with State
responsibility, based on the American Convention, and the national jurisdictional
authorities with subjective criminal responsibility, in application of the provisions of
domestic law.
24.
Finally, the representatives asserted that the State “had interpreted the
judgment in bad faith, in order to justify the presentation of its request.” The
judgment clearly established that the acts committed by the military personnel
against the victim were not limited to those verified in the sphere of the search for
justice, but rather encompassed what happened when Mrs. Rosendo Cantú was
raped and tortured. This is so evident from the judgment that to reach the State’s
conclusions […] could be the result of a process contrary to the principle of pacta
sunt servanda.” The State “used a deliberately wrongful interpretation to argue an
alleged lack of clarity in the judgment that in actual fact was non-existent.” The
meaning and scope of the judgment are clear and a request for interpretation is only
admissible if the aspects of the judgment whose meaning requires clarification are
related to the operative paragraphs of the judgment. In this case, the Court not only
ordered the State to conduct the pertinent investigation into the facts, but also
indicated criteria to be followed in complying with this obligation, obviating the “need
for the respective paragraphs to be clarified by the Court’s interpretation.” Based on
the foregoing, the representatives asked the Court to declare the State’s request
inadmissible.
2. Considerations of the Court
25.
The Court observes that, although the State’s assertions were divided into six
sections, the truth is that Mexico’s allegations do not correspond to “six arguments,”
but rather to a repetition, that can be summarized under the following aspects: (a)
the competence of the Court to determine international responsibility in contrast to
individual responsibility and the determination of the facts made by the Court in this
case, and (b) the alleged violation by the Court of the principle of the presumption of
innocence. The Inter-American Court will refer to these aspects, as well as to the
interpretation of the expression “act committed by military personnel” questioned by
the State.
a) General considerations
26.
The Court finds it appropriate to recall that, based on the probative elements
presented to the Court, it found that the rape of Mrs. Rosendo Cantú by two soldiers
in the presence of six others had been proved. Among other matters, this entailed a
violation of her personal integrity, constituting an act of torture in the terms of
Article 5(2) of the American Convention and Article 2 of the Inter-American
Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. The Court highlighted that in order to
determine the international responsibility of the State, the “probative requirements
and standards are not those of a criminal court, because it is not incumbent on this
Court to determine individual responsibilities or assess that evidence, using those
criteria.”
27.
The Inter-American Court arrived at this conclusion based, inter alia, on the
following elements: (a) the victim’s testimony, (b) the military presence in the area
on the day of the facts; (c) the psychological evaluation of Mrs. Rosendo Cantú; (d)