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B.
Other Admissibility Requirements
1.
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
48.
In order for the IACHR to admit a petition, the requirement of prior exhaustion of
available domestic remedies, as prescribed in Article 46.1.a of the American Convention, must be met in
accordance with generally recognized principles of international law. Article 46.2 of the American
Convention provides that the prior exhaustion of domestic remedies requirement shall not be applicable
when the domestic legislation of the state concerned does not afford due process of law for the protection
of the right or rights that have allegedly been violated, the party alleging violation of his rights has been
denied access to the remedies under domestic law or has been prevented from exhausting them or when
there has been unwarranted delay in rendering a final judgment under the aforementioned remedies.
49.
In the instant case, the Commission notes that the State contends it has properly
investigated the facts pertaining to the petition and that domestic remedies have not been exhausted
because, after the amparo decision of August 19, 2011, a “motion for review” of judgment was available
to the petitioners, which in the judgment of the State, constitutes a simple and accessible remedy that
could have been pursued by the family members in order to challenge the amparo ruling and reopen the
investigation. The petitioners, however, argue that the State has not diligently investigated the alleged
attacks, which took place prior to the death of Mrs. Digna Ochoa and that remedies have been exhausted
with regard to the investigation conducted into her death.
50.
In view of the parties’ allegations, the IACHR must first clarify what domestic remedies
must be exhausted in a case such as the instant one, in light of the legal precedents of the Inter-American
system. According to precedents set by the Commission, whenever a alleged criminal offense is
committed that is subject to ex officio prosecution, the State has the obligation to bring forward and
further an investigation and that, in those instances, this is the suitable procedure to clarify the facts and,
as the case may warrant, to bring those responsible to trial and establish the appropriate criminal
sanction. 6 Concretely, in cases such as this one, the Commission notes that the European Court has also
held that authorities are obligated to investigate the circumstances in which deaths occur, particularly
when a suicide or a homicide is involved. 7
51.
The IACHR notes that in the instant case, the State brought forward an investigation into
the alleged abductions of and assaults on Mrs. Digna Ochoa, as well as into the circumstances of her death,
and these incidents could entail violations of fundamental rights such as the right to life and humane
treatment and, in domestic law, amount to criminal offenses subject to ex officio prosecution.
Consequently, in the view of the Commission, independently of the findings reached by the investigating
authority, this investigation was brought on the State’s own initiative, which must be considered for the
purpose of determining the admissibility of the instant claim.
As reported by the parties, regarding the investigation into the alleged abductions of and
assaults on Mrs. Digna Ochoa on August 9 and October 28, 1999, the IACHR notes that even though the
State reported on several steps it took in a preliminary investigation upon learning of these crimes, in the
52.
6 IACHR,
Report No. 99/09, Petition 12.335, Gustavo Giraldo Villamizar Durán, Colombia, October 29, 2009, par. 33.
Concretely, in the case of Masneva v. Ukraine, pertaining to the alleged death of Mr. Marnev as a result of a suicide,
the Court determined that “the authorities had the procedural obligation to investigate the circumstances of Mr. Masnev,
particularly, to determine whether a murder or a suicide had taken place.” Cfr. ECHR, Masneva v. Ukraine, no. 5952/07, § 52.
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