20
both the Commission and the Court are competent to examine the instant
case, since Peru ratified the Convention and accepted the jurisdiction of the
Court.
It asserted that the accused, irrespective of whether they are
terrorists, mercenaries, or common criminals, have the rights protected by
Article 8 of the Convention. In contrast with the reservation made by the
State during the public hearing, the Commission affirmed that “if the
objections are raised now, they should be supported now.”
82.
As to this objection, the Court adheres to the observations that it made on
examining the legitimacy of FASIC and of its representatives (supra 77). As regards
statements concerning the principle of sovereignty and its implications in the present
case, reference is made to the examination of the tenth objection (infra 101 and
102).
83.
As concerns the exclusive subject matter in the sixth objection, the Court
emphasizes that it can not nor should not discuss or judge the character of the
crimes attributed to the alleged victims, certainly very grave, as that is reserved to
the appropriate criminal court. The Court is called upon only to decide on concrete
violations of the provisions of the Convention, concerning any persons and
independent of the legal situation that applies to them or of the legality or illegally of
their conduct from the perspective of the criminal norms that could be applicable
under national law.
84.
A behavior that risks or harms the legal benefits set forth in Article 32 of the
Convention, which was invoked by Peru, would result in the intervention of the
regular courts for a judgment as to the liability of those who committed it, but will
not override the human rights of the accused nor deprive them of the possibility of
access to organs of international jurisdiction. On another occasion, the Court has
commented on the seriousness of the real or alleged crimes committed by the
victim, holding that the Court is not concerned with the innocence or the guilt of the
accused, and that a decision of that nature is in the providence of the domestic
criminal court (cfr. Suárez Rosero, Judgment of November 12, 1997, Series C No.
35, para. 37).
85.
Consequently, the Court deems that this preliminary objection is inadmissible.
IX
“PREMATURE DECISION”
TO SEND THE CASE TO THE COURT
Seventh Objection
86.
The seventh objection interposed by the State concerns “the premature
decision of the Honorable Commission to send the present case to the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights.”
87.
The Court summarizes the positions of the State and the Commission on this
issue as follows.