10
35.
That the representatives informed that, “there have been acts of violence that
have affected the direct victims of the case.” They added that in an interview carried out
with some of the victims on August 31, 2009, in the city of Asunción, “all the victims
[interviewed] denounced that they are constantly submitted to harassment by the police,
who investigate their work activities, ask them for money, or threaten them with
incriminate them for the commission of different crimes.” They specifically denounced
two cases in which the victims suffered acts of violence. In the month of April 2009,
once of the victims was extra-legally detained, her house was illegally and violently
searched, and she was extorted in exchange for her freedom after being detained for
several hours. They also stated that on December 13, 2008 one of the victims that had
testified before this Tribunal, Osmar Verón López, who was imprisoned in the Tacumbú
Prison, passed away “in a fight between inmates […] without the State having offered
the means necessary to guarantee his personal integrity.” In fact, they received
information that “he was transferred to an area of the prison that was extremely
dangerous.” They considered that “[t]his death in itself is a worrying sample of the lack
of care the State has had in the protection of those who testified in this case.” They
requested that the State inform of the investigations started with regard to this death.
36.
That the Commission did not present specific observations regarding compliance
of this obligation.
37.
That the Court observes that the representatives informed of the death of one of
the victims that offered his testimony in the present case, Mr. Osmar Verón López. On
the other hand, acts of harassment against some victims were recorded and motivated
the start of the corresponding administrative proceedings. The Tribunal considers it
necessary that the State, in its next report, refer to: a) the investigation started because
of the death of Mr. Osmar Verón López, and b) the progress in the mentioned
administrative proceedings, which, according to the Time Line, is scheduled to be
concluded in January 11, 2010.
*
*
*
38.
That regarding payment of the compensations for pecuniary and non-pecuniary
damages to the victims and their next of kin (sixteenth and seventeenth operative
paragraphs of the Judgment), and the reimbursement of the expenses and costs to the
victims’ representatives (eighteenth operative paragraph of the Judgment), the State
informed that, after the two partial payments corresponding to the 2006 and 2007 Tax
Years, for the 2008 tax year it included budgetary credits within the General Budget of
the Nation for “the amount of [Guaraníes] 3,800,000,000, corresponding to the third
payment made by the State,” which was made effective through Decree No. 12,594 of
August 5, 2008. In reference to the fourth payment, it stated that the Ministry of
Hacienda has included the amount of “[Guaraníes] 3,800,000,000 in the General Budget
for the Nation’s Expenses [of 2009],” and over this amount they are carrying out the
corresponding processes for its execution. Finally, it indicated that “it had requested the
inclusion of the remaining amount in the General Expense Budget of the year 2010.”
That during the public hearing for monitoring compliance, the State informed that
39.
the Treasury made a transfer for [Guaraníes] 3,800,000,000 equal to US$ 764,587.00
[seven hundred and sixty four thousand five hundred and eighty seven dollars of the
United States of America] for payment of the corresponding compensations, which was
available for its collection on September 30, 2009. Likewise, it reiterated that it had
already requested the inclusion of the remaining balance, equal to US$ 572,000.43 [five