IV.
ANALYSIS OF ADMISSIBILITY
A.
Competence ratione personae, ratione materiae, ratione temporis, ratione loci
40. In accordance with the provisions of Article 44 of the American Convention and Article 23
of the IACHR Rules of Procedure, the petitioners have standing to present a petition before the
Commission regarding alleged violations of the rights provided for in said treaty. With respect
to the State, Chile is a party to the American Convention, and therefore is internationally
responsible for violations of said instrument. The alleged victims are individuals with respect to
whom the State undertook to guarantee the rights provided for by the American Convention.
Based on the foregoing, the Inter-American Commission has the competence ratione personae
to examine the complaint.
41. The IACHR is competent ratione materiae because the petition contains complaints of
violations of human rights protected by the American Convention. It also has jurisdiction
ratione temporis because the obligation to respect and guarantee rights in said treaty was
already in force for the State at the time in which the alleged facts in the petition occurred,
since Chile ratified the American Convention on August 21, 1990. Finally, the Inter-American
Commission is competent ratione loci to hear the petition, because it contains allegations of
violations of human rights protected by the American Convention that took place within the
territory of a State party to said instrument.
B.
Requirements for admissibility of the petition
1.
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
42. Article 46(1)(a) of the Convention provides that one of the requirements for the admission
of a petition is “that the remedies under domestic law have been pursued and exhausted in
accordance with generally recognized principles of international law.”
43. Based on the information submitted by the parties, the Commission notes that in the
instant petition domestic resources have been exhausted. Indeed, on October 13, 2004, the
Court of Appeals of Temuco denied the motion, filed by the defense of Messrs. and Mme. Juan
Patricio Marileo Sanabria, Florencio Jaime Marileo Saravia, Patricia Roxana Troncoso Robles,
José Benicio Huenchunao Mariñan and Juan Ciriaco Millacheo Lican, to vacate the judgment
finding them guilty, handed down on August 22, 2004.
44. Pursuant to article 387 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of Chile, the decision on a motion
to vacate has no appeal, without prejudice to a review of the final judgment finding the
defendant guilty. Should the motion to vacate have been granted, the judgment handed down
in a new trial is not subject to appeal, either. However, the article states that should the new
judgment convict the defendant, and the judgment quashed following the appeal had been for
acquittal, then a motion to vacate in favor of the defendant shall be in order.
45. The Inter-American Commission has verified that the remedies provided for by Chilean
legislation for these cases have been exhausted. It therefore finds that the petition examined
meets the requirement of Article 46(1)(a) of the Convention.
2.
Timeliness of the petition
46. Article 46(1)(b) of the American Convention provides that one of the requirements for the
admission of a petition is that it must be “lodged within a period of six months from the date
on which the party alleging violation of his rights was notified of the final judgment.”
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