the domestic and international levels, entail disbursements that must be compensated when the
international responsibility of the State has been declared in a judgment. The Court has said that
“the claims of the victims or their representatives with respect to costs and expenses, and the
evidence that sustains them, must be presented to the Court at the first procedural moment, in other
words, in the brief with pleadings and motions, unless such claims are made current at a subsequent
time, in accordance with new costs and expenses that have been incurred in the proceedings before
the Court.”193 Likewise, the Court reiterates that that it is not sufficient to remit evidentiary
documents, rather the parties must provide the rationale that relates the evidence to the fact under
consideration and, in the case of alleged financial disbursements, the items and their justification
must be described clearly.194 The Court observes that in the instant case the representatives
requested the reimbursement of the costs generated in their final written arguments. The request,
therefore, is untimely and should be rejected.
H. Reimbursement of expenses to the Inter-American Court's Victims’ Legal
Assistance Fund
180. In 2008 the General Assembly of the Organization of American States created the Legal
Assistance Fund of the Inter-American Human Rights System, with the "purpose to facilitate access
to the inter-American system of human rights by persons who currently lack the resources needed
to bring their cases before the system."195
181. The representatives requested the make use of this assistance for the specific expenses of
their defense in the international proceeding and for the expenses required for the intervention of
the Inter-American Defenders.
182. By note from the Secretariat of the Court of July 17, 2019, a report was sent to the State on
the expenditures made in application of the Victims' Legal Assistance Fund in the instant case, which
amounted to the sum of USD$ 1,943.20 (one thousand nine hundred and forty-three United States
dollars and twenty cents) and, pursuant to the provisions of Article 5 of the Rules of Procedure of the
Court on the operation of said Fund, a deadline was granted for Guatemala to submit any
observations it deemed pertinent. The State submitted its observations on July 22, 2019, in which it
"categorically opposed" the payment of the reimbursement to the Fund, arguing that (i) the true
victims were the persons harmed by the crime committed by Messrs. Rodríguez Revolorio, López
Calo and Archila Pérez and that (ii) despite the fact that Mr. Rodríguez Revolorio had private
representation, the inter-American defenders were "arbitrarily" appointed to defend the alleged
victim.
183. With respect to said observations, the Court notes that, once the case was submitted by the
Commission before this Court, the Court requested the Centro de Acción Legal de Derechos Humanos
(hereinafter, "CALDH") -the organization that had acted as petitioner throughout the proceedings
before the Commission- to confirm their representation of the alleged victims. On March 6, 2018,
para. 79, and Case of Coc Max et al (Xamán Massacre) v. Guatemala, supra, para. 193.
193
Cf. Article 40(d) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court. See also, Case of Garrido and Baigorria v. Argentina.
Reparations and Costs, supra, paras. 79 and 82, and Case of Coc Max et al (Xamán Massacre) v. Guatemala, supra, para.
194.
194
Cf. Case of Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez v. Ecuador, supra, para. 277, and Case of Coc Max et al (Xamán
Massacre) v. Guatemala, supra, para. 194.
195
AG/RES. 2426 (XXXVIII-O/08), Resolution adopted by the OAS General Assembly during the thirty-eighth regular
session of the OAS, at the fourth plenary session, held June 3, 2008, "Establishment of the Legal Assistance Fund of the InterAmerican Human Rights System," operative paragraph 2.a), and CP/RES. 963 (1728/09), Resolution adopted on November
11, 2009, by the Permanent Council of the OAS, "Rules of Procedure for the Functioning of the Legal Assistance Fund of the
Inter-American Human Rights System," Article 1.1.
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