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ARTICLE 5 OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION
(RIGHT TO HUMANE TREATMENT)
IN RELATION TO ARTICLE 1(1) THEREOF
Argument of the Commission
106. With respect to Article 5 of the Convention, the Commission pointed out, inter
alia, that:
a)
As regards Mr. Bernabé Baldeón-García
i)
the circumstances surrounding his arrest “constitute a violation of his
mental and moral integrity per se;”
ii)
from said circumstances, coupled with “his age, the uncertainty over
the outcome of his detention in the face of a systematic pattern of
extrajudicial executions in place at the time, it can be reasonably assumed
that […] he experienced fear and anguish during the time of his arrest;”
iii)
the explanations provided by the State of the manner of his death “do
not conform to the technical criteria that should guide an examination of a
person who died while in the custody of the State and allegedly tortured […],
nor are they the result of a formal investigation into the facts;”
iv)
evidence of the alleged torture should be “obtained as a result of
proceedings conducted by the Fiscalía Especializada en Ejecuciones
Extrajudiciales (Special Prosecutor’s Office for Extrajudicial Executions),
particularly the exhumation of the body;”
v)
After the filing of the complaint "scientific evidence" has come to light
“which proves the maltreatment suffered by the victim (qualified by experts
as torture);” and
vi)
[…] was subject to “physical maltreatment that may be qualified as
torture.”
b)
As regards Bernabé Baldeón-García’s next of kin
i)
their mental and moral integrity was affected “as a direct result of the
illegal and arbitrary deprivation of freedom of Mr. Bernabé Baldeón-García,
the fact that they had no knowledge of his whereabouts, his subsequent
death at the hands of State officials and the lack of investigation into the
incidents.”
Argument of the representatives
107. When submitting their requests and arguments, the representatives, in
addition to raising the same arguments offered by the Commission regarding Article
5 of the Convention, pointed out that:
a)
As regards Mr. Bernabé Baldeón-García
i)
he was “cruelly tortured,” as he was tied up with wire, submerged in a
water tank and beaten; and
ii)
the State has also violated Article 2 of the Inter-American Convention
to Prevent and Punish Torture. Said Article is “supplemented by Article [3] of
the aforementioned Convention.”