dated November 14, 2005, the petitioner asked the State to commute the sentence of
Lucas Matías Mendoza. The petitioners stress that although the State made a
commitment to work towards the commutation of the sentence, nothing has been
accomplished.
Saúl Cristián Roldán Cajal
57. The petition on behalf of Saúl Cristian Roldán Cajal was filed with the IACHR on
July 7, 2003. The petition argues that the alleged victim was tried for the crimes of
aggravated robbery in conjunction with aggravated homicide, committed before he was
18 years of age. On November 6, 2000, the Juvenile Criminal Court of Mendoza found
Saúl Cristian Roldán Cajal to be criminally liable and brought the matter before the
Juvenile Prosecutor of the Public Ministry, which requested a sentence of 20 years in
prison. On March 8, 2002, the court made a decision on the sentence to be imposed on
young Roldán, and condemned him to life imprisonment, based on law 22,278.
58. The court-appointed defense attorney of young Roldán filed a motion for cassation
based on the arbitrary nature of the sentence and its violation of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child. The petitioners report that on August 5, 2002, Courtroom II of
the Supreme Court of Mendoza Province ruled that the motion for cassation was
inadmissible because the defense was using it to seek a review of matters of fact and
evidence, and that the trial court had stated the reasons for its decision in the whereas
clauses of its decision. The petitioners assert that young Roldán Cajal was not informed
of this ruling until June 18, 2003, and thus lost the opportunity to file any further
appeals within the domestic jurisdiction.
Ricardo David Videla Fernández
59. The petitioners state that the alleged victim was tried for the following crimes,
committed between June 5, 2001 and July 12, 2002: armed robbery at sites in the city
of Mendoza, and 2 aggravated homicides. He was additionally accused of illegal
possession of weapons of war, aggravated coercion, and illegally carrying a weapon for
civilian use. On November 28, 2002, pursuant to law 22,278, he was sentenced by the
Oral Juvenile Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Mendoza to life in prison.
60. The defense attorney of young Videla filed a motion of cassation against the
conviction from the trial court, arguing erroneous application of the law in determining
the sentence. The Supreme Court of Mendoza denied the motion, arguing that the
defense was seeking a review of matters of fact and evidence, which are the exclusive
rights of the court which tried the case. In response to that decision, the defense
attorney filed a special federal appeal, which was also denied by the Supreme Court of
Mendoza under the argument that the challenge was merely a dissent with the court’s
opinion in terms of compliance with the formal requirements of the motion for
cassation. Finally, a motion based on improper denial of an appeal was filed with the
National Supreme Court, which was denied in a decision dated October 13, 2003 for
procedural reasons. That decision was notified on the 16th of that month.
61. In the additional information received on June 23, 2005 from both the petitioners
and the State, the Commission learned of the death of young Ricardo David Videla
Fernández in a possible suicide in his cell at the Mendoza Penitentiary. The petitioners
state that the circumstances of the death have not yet been clarified.