32
control of the State at all times. In addition, throughout the procedure on the instant case,
the State asserted that it knew, at all times, where the remains of Mr. Rainer Ibsen
Cardenas were located. Therefore, an unsuccessful procedure such as this verifies the lack
of certainty regarding his whereabouts up to that point (supra paras. 82 and 83). In this
respect, the Court considers that the State cannot argue, on one hand, that the remains of
Rainer Ibsen were absolutely located, with a plaque on the grave in which he was
supposedly buried to boot, and, on the other hand, that the remains exhumed in March
2007 did not turn out to be those of Mr. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas because the persons in
charge of the exhumation counted the graves incorrectly.
91. On the other hand, on February 20, 2008, other bodies in the mausoleum of
ASOFAMD were exhumed.107 The case file before the Court contains a "preliminary report"
on the DNA profile of the remains of one of those bodies dated July 15, 2008, and issued
by the experts in charge of the exhumation. The report established that one of the bodies
exhumed had a 99.7% probability of belonging to Rainer Ibsen Cardenas.108 On July 28,
2008, the expert witnesses presented to the District Prosecutor of La Paz a “Forensic
Anthropology Final Report” on the exhumations of February 20 of that year.109 This
remains were delivered to Mr. Ibsen Cárdenas’ next of kin on November 11, 2008.110 On
that same day, the Forensic Research Institute of the Attorney General Office of the
Republic issued a "Death Certificate” which indicated that Mr. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas died
on June 22, 1972, in La Paz, due to “[c]ranio-encephalic trauma and [m]ultiple [t]raumas.”
Under the heading "Observations,” the document reads: “Skeletal remains that were
exhumed at the Mausoleum of ASOFAM [sic] of the city of La Paz, which were later
identified through genetic testing […], upon the order of exhumation issued by the […]
District Prosecutor of La Paz.”111 The Tribunal notes that these reports were not disputed.
92. Given the lack of certainty as to whether the remains found in the year 1983 at the
Mausoleum of ASOFAMD belonged to Rainer Ibsen Cardenas, the Court considers that
those remains were identified, in this case, by means of the DNA profile report of July 15,
2008, on the remains exhumed on February 20, of that same year, within the framework
107
Cf. “Final Report on the Works of Exhumation and Anthropological Analysis of the Buried Remains in the
ASOFAMD Cemetery, Sector B, General Cemetery of La Paz” (Case file 37/2000, Cuerpo 25, folios 10106 y
18907).
108
Cf. DNA Profil Preliminary Report, of July 15, 2008 (Case file 37/2000, Volume 25, folios 10094, 10104,
18897 and 18905), and Delia Cortez Flores statement rendered during the public hearing.
109
Cf. Note signed by Silvana Turner of the Argentinian Team on Forensic Anthropology addressed to the
Office of the Attorney General of the Distric of La Paz, on July 28, 2008 (Case file 37/2000, Volume 25, folios
10105 to 10106 and 18906 to 18907).
110
Cf. “Minute of delivery of evidence and/or samples”, of Novemeber 11, 2008 (Case file 37/2000, Volume
27, folios 10626 and 19126); Brief of Rebeca Ibsen Castro addressed to the Seventh First Instance Civil and
Commercial Judge of La Paz, on November 12, 2008 (Case file 37/2000, Volume 27, folios 10628 y 19428); note
CITE: F.G.R. Stría. Nº 1433/2008 of the Attorney General of the Republic addressed to the Foreign Relations and
and Worship Ministry, November 24, 2008 (case file of appendixes to the answer to the application, appendix
13, folios 11309); note CITE: JENAMEF 690 /08 of the Forensic Investigations Institute addressed to the
Attorney General of the Republic (case file of appendixes to the answer to the application, appendix 13, folio
11311), and press release published on November 12, 2008 in La Razón, “They give back Rainer’s remains”
[“Devuelven los restos de Rainer”] (case file of appendixes to the brief of pleadings and motions, PD-191, folio
2621).
111
Death Certificate of Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas issued by the Forensic Investigations Institute of the Office of
the Attorney General of the Republic, on November 11, 2008 (Case file 37/2000, Volume 27, folios 10627 and
19427).
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents