REPORT No. 120/101 CASE 12.605 MERITS JOE LUIS CASTILLO GONZÁLEZ ET AL. VENEZUELA October 22, 2010 I. SUMMARY 1. On March 20, 2006, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or the “IACHR”) received a petition lodged by the Episcopal Vicariate of Human Rights of Caracas and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) (hereinafter “the petitioners”), which claimed that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter “the State” or “the Venezuelan State”) bore international responsibility for the killing in 2003 of the human rights defender Joe Luis Castillo González and the gunshot wounds sustained by his wife, Yelitze Moreno de Castillo, and their son, the child Luis César Castillo Moreno in the municipality of Machiques de Perijá, State of Zulia. 2. The petitioners argue that the State is responsible for violation of the rights to life, to humane treatment, to a fair trial, to freedom of expression, to freedom of association, of the child, and to judicial protection recognized in Articles 4, 5, 8, 13, 16, 19, and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the “American Convention”), in conjunction with Article 1(1) of the same treaty, to the detriment of Joe Luis Castillo González, Yelitze Moreno de Castillo, the child Luis César Castillo Moreno, and their next of kin, based on the conduct of agents of the state and the failure to provide an effective response insofar as investigation of the attacks is concerned. For its part, the State rejected the claims of the petitioners regarding the purported violations of rights protected by the American Convention and argued that the obligation of the State to investigate and punish alleged human rights violations is not an obligation of result but of means. 3. Having analyzed the factual and legal arguments put forward by the parties, the Commission concluded that the State is responsible for violation of Articles 4(1), 5(1), 8(1), 16(1), 19 and 25(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as for the failure to discharge the general obligation to respect and ensure rights recognized in Article 1(1) of said treaty, to the detriment of Joe Luis Castillo González and his family. The Commission also found insufficient evidence to establish a violation of the right protected in Article 13 of the American Convention. II. PROCESSING BY THE COMMISSION AFTER REPORT ON ADMISSIBILITY 22/07 A. Processing of Case 12.605 4. After receiving the initial complaint, the Commission decided to open petition 259-06 and start its processing. On March 9, 2007, after the admissibility procedure, the Commission declared the case admissible in Report 22/072 in which it declared admissible the alleged violations of the rights to life, to humane treatment, to a fair trial, to freedom of expression, to freedom of association, of the child, and to judicial protection recognized in Articles 4, 5, 8, 13, 16, 19, and 25 of the American Convention, in conjunction with Article 1(1) of the same treaty. On March 26, 2007, the Commission forwarded the report on admissibility to the parties and granted the petitioners two months to present their submissions on merits. In the same communication, the Commission placed itself at the disposal of the parties with a view to reaching a friendly settlement of the matter and it requested them to state their interest in that regard as soon as possible. 1 Pursuant to Article 17(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the IACHR, Commissioner Luz Patricia Mejía Guerrero, a Venezuelan national, did not participate in the discussion or decision in the present case. 2 IACHR, Report on Admissibility 22/07, Joe Castillo et al., March 9, 2007. Annual Report of the IACHR 2007