Francisca Mercedes Vera Valdez. Notwithstanding, the Court deems that the
facts of this case, wherein the parties have had ample opportunity to present
motions and defense, demonstrate a harm to this right, as is exposed below.
A.
Considerations of the Court
102. The facts set forth in Chapter VII of this Judgment show the close
bond between Ms. Francisca Mercedes Vera Valdez and her son Pedro Miguel
Vera Vera and her efforts to try to ensure that he be hospitalized at the
appropriate health institutions, given the type of lesion he presented and his
physical condition at the time (supra paras. 56 to 58, 60, 66, 69, 71, 73, and
75). In this regard, the Court also considers it relevant to note that the
statement rendered by Mr. Francisco Rubén Vargas Balcazar, 114 the husband
of Ms. Vera Valdez and stepfather of Peter Miguel Vera Vera, who according to
the statement made at the public hearing, accompanied her at various times
and shared in her efforts to get Mr. Vera Vera to receive adequate medical
care, also states this.
103. In addition, during the public hearing, Ms. Vera Valdez expressed that
her life has been sad since she lost her son, given that “they denied him all
his rights […] to live.” She also expressed that given the facts that he
experienced, she felt “very bad” and was in poor health. Lastly, she
mentioned that she hoped for “justice” and that while her son was injured,
they did not “give him the medical care needed so that he [could] live.”
104. On other occasions, the Court has considered the existence of a
violation to the right to mental and moral integrity of some next of kin due to
the suffering they endured given the actions or omissions of State
authorities,115 taking into account, among others, the existence of a close
family relationship.116
105. For the Court, it is clear that the facts established in this Judgment
demonstrate the suffering that Ms. Vera Valdez had to endure due to the poor
treatment of her son while he was deprived of his liberty with a gunshot
wound, for the treatment she received upon attempting to secure him proper
medical care, and for the failure to determine responsibility for his death. The
Court does not consider that it is not necessary to go into more depth, and
therefore, deems that the State is responsible for the violation of the right
enshrined in Article 5(1) of the Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) therein,
to the detriment of Ms. Francisca Mercedes Vera Valdez.
114
Cf. Statement rendered before a notary public (affidávit) by Mr. Francisco Rubén Vargas
Balcázar (case file of Merits, tomo I, folios 610 to 611).
115
Cf. Case of the Mapiripan Massacre V. Colombia, supra note 21, para. 144; Case of
Gomes Lund et al. (Guerrilha do Araguaia) V. Brazil, supra note 4, para. 235, and Case of
Gelman V. Uruguay, supra note 12, para. 133.
116
Cf. Case of B��maca Velásquez V. Guatemala. Merits. Judgment of November 25, 2000.
Series C No. 70, para. 163; Case of Valle Jaramillo et al. V. Colombia. Merits, Reparations and
Costs. Judgment of November 27, 2008. Series C No. 192, para. 119, and Case of Ibsen
Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña V. Bolivia, supra note 94, para. 127.
41
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