ORDER OF THE
INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
OF JUNE 14, 1998
PROVISIONAL MEASURES REQUESTED BY THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
IN THE MATTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
JAMES, BRIGGS, NOEL, GARCIA AND BETHEL CASES
HAVING SEEN:
1.
The communication of May 22, 1998, and its annexes, in which the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the "Commission") submitted to
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter "the Court"), pursuant to
Article 63 (2) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter "the
American Convention" or "the Convention") and Article 25 of the Rules of Procedure
of the Court (hereinafter "the Rules of Procedure"), a request for provisional
measures on behalf of Wenceslaus James, Anthony Briggs, Anderson Noel, Anthony
Garcia and Christopher Bethel (hereinafter "the alleged victims"), in connection with
Cases 11.814, 11.815, 11.854, 11.855 and 11.857, respectively, currently pending
before the Commission against the State of Trinidad and Tobago (hereinafter "the
State" or "Trinidad and Tobago"). In the aforesaid communication, the Commission
petitioned the Court
to request the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to stay the executions of the individuals
on “death row” in the five cases at issue until such time as the Commission has had the
opportunity to examine and decide these cases pursuant to the Convention and the
Commission’s Regulations.
and set out the facts, which are summarized below:
a)
the alleged victims have been sentenced to death by the State;
b)
the Cases, 11.814, 11.815, 11.854, 11.855, and 11.857, were
presented to the Commission on behalf of the alleged victims between
October 7 and December 17, 1997; in all of them the petitioners requested
the adoption of precautionary measures in order to stay the imminent
executions of the alleged victims until after the Commission had duly
considered and decided their cases;
c)
in each of the five cases, the petitioners allege to the Commission that
the State has violated specific rights of the American Convention to the
detriment of the alleged victims;
d)
in each of the five cases, the Commission adopted and notified the
State of the precautionary measures requested by the petitioners. However,
the State did not respond to the requests for precautionary measures; and