39
123. During his arrest, Mr. Bernabé Baldeón-García was tied up with wire and hung
upside down from a beam to be then beaten and submerged in water tanks (supra
para. 72(20)).
124. In this regard, the expert report prepared by María Dolores Morcillo-Méndez
indicated that it was “possible to consider that the injuries found in the bone remains
are consistent with traumatic wounds that might suggest torture” (supra para. 64).
Furthermore, expert witness José Pablo Baraybar concluded that the “remains of the
victim might suffered perimortem wounds that are compatible with torture” (supra
para. 64).
125. In light of the fact that there is sufficient evidence of the alleged torture in the
records, that at the time of the events there was a pattern of extrajudicial
executions, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and torture, and that the State
did not challenge the allegations in this regard, the Court finds that the treatment
given to Mr. Baldeón-García during his arrest and before his death constitutes an act
of torture prohibited by Article 5(2) of the Convention.
126. Based on the foregoing, and taking into account the acquiescence of the State
to the claim in this case, the Court finds that the State violated Article 5(2) of the
Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, to the detriment of Mr. Bernabé
Baldeón-García.
b)
The alleged violation of Article 5 of the Convention to the detriment of Mr.
Bernabé Baldeón-García’s next of kin
127. The representatives also argued that the State violated the right to humane
treatment enshrined in Article 5 of the American Convention, to the detriment of Mr.
Bernabé Baldeón-García’s next of kin (supra para. 107(a)(i)).
128. This Court has asserted that the next of kin of the victims of human rights
violations may, in turn, be victims. In this line of reasoning, the Court has considered
that the mental and moral integrity of the victims’ next of kin has been violated as a
result of the additional suffering resulting from the specific circumstances
surrounding the violations committed against their love ones and from the
subsequent acts or omissions by the State authorities with respect to the incidents at
issue here.76
129. The Court has examined the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding
this case, particularly the manner in which he was arrested, the torture meted out to
Mr. Bernabé Baldeón-García during his detention, the immediate burial of the body of
the victim by the soldiers involved in his death, the deep bond of the family with Mr.
Bernabé Baldeón-García as well as the obstacles that said family members
encountered in their quest to uncover the truth. Based on such circumstances, the
Court finds that the victim’s next of kin have experienced great suffering and
impotence at the hands of the State authorities to the detriment of their mental and
moral integrity as a result of the arrest, torture and subsequent extrajudicial
execution of the victim.
76
Cf. Case of López-Álvarez, supra note 6, para. 119; Case of Caesar, supra note 1, para. 60; and
Case of the “Mapiripán Massacre”, supra note 1, paras. 144 and 146.
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