ORDER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS* OF FEBRUARY 18, 2002 REQUEST FOR PROVISIONAL MEASURES BY THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE MATTER OF THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES GALLARDO RODRÍGUEZ CASE HAVING SEEN: 1. The brief of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or “the Inter-American Commission”) of December 18, 2001, in which it submitted a request for provisional measures: to avoid irreparable damage to the life, and the physical, psychological and moral wellbeing of General José Francisco Gallardo Rodríguez, and also to his freedom of expression related to his life. The provisional measures are also requested to avoid irreparable damage to the psychological and moral well-being of his wife, Leticia Enríquez, and his children, Marco Vinicio, Francisco José, Alejandro and Jessica Gallardo Enríquez. In the case of his daughter, Jessica Gallardo, who is eight years of age, the Court is also requested to adopt special protection measures to safeguard her safety. Lastly, the purpose of the measures is to avoid irreparable damage to the right of Mexican society as a whole to receive information freely. In its request, the Commission indicated that: a) b) c) d) * The safety and life of General José Francisco Gallardo Rodríguez (hereinafter “General Gallardo” or “the General”) were in grave danger; the General was “detained de facto” in the “NezahualcoyotlBordo Xochiaca” Social Rehabilitation Center in the State of Mexico (Neza-Bordo prison); The Inter-American Commission and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had studied this case and concluded that the detention was illegal, because it was the result of “arbitrary military procedures” that violated due process; The State, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assumed the legal commitment to free the “de facto prisoner”; In the place where he was detained, General Gallardo was submitted to numerous acts of harassment, because the prison authorities had denied him the right to receive visits on several occasions, in an apparently arbitrary manner, and he had been subjected to sudden transfers without any explanation; Judge Máximo Pacheco Gómez informed the Court that, owing to circumstances beyond his control, he would be unable to attend the fifty-fourth regular session of the Court; consequently, he did not take part in the deliberation and signature of this order.