4
10.
The comments of the Inter-American Commission of April 12, 2001, stating
that “[n]either [the last] report of the State, nor is previous reports [had mentioned]
the least effort or measure initiated since delivery of the [...] Court’s judgment to
clarify individual responsibility for the abduction, clandestine detention, torture and
extrajudicial execution of Professor Consuelo Benavides.” The Commission added
that “the domestic judicial mechanisms ha[d] served to obstruct justice to the point
of declaring the stay of proceedings and/or the statute-barred nature of any action
filed by the Benavides family” and that the State had not provided information on
the measures taken to commemorate the name of Professor Benavides, which was
an essential element of the agreement, “partly because the victim’s parent died
before seeing compliance with this commitment.”
11.
The note of the Secretariat of December 6, 2001, in which, on the instruction
of the Court, it requested the State to present a report on compliance by January 7,
2002, at the latest, which should include “a detailed account of the measures taken
to comply with the judgment and, particularly the elements relating to the specific
measures taken by the State to investigate and to punish those responsible for the
human rights violations referred to in the judgment on merits, and the results of
such measures.”
12.
The note of the Secretariat of March 1, 2002, in which, on the instructions of
the Court, it reiterated to the State that it should present a report on the status of
compliance with the judgment of June 19, 1998, and indicated that “when it has
received the reply, the Court w[ould] assess the degree of compliance with judgment
and, in light of the information provided, w[ould] decide whether to transmit a report
to the OAS General Assembly, on the State’s failure to comply with the judgment of
the Court, pursuant to Article 65 of the American Convention on Human Rights.
13.
The note of the Commission of June 6, 2002, in which it forwarded to the
Court the information submitted by Ecuador, to the effect that “[i]t had paid the
amount [...] of the compensation granted to the next of kin of Professor Consuelo
Benavides Cevallos, as ordered by the Court”; that the “Supreme Court of Justice, in
a reasoned decision of August 7, 1998, had declared the criminal proceeding against
the accused, Fausto Morales Villota, statute-barred, because the crime of which he
was accused is punishable by imprisonment and therefore becomes statute-barred
ten years after the issue of the court order to investigate the alleged crime,” and
that “as a result of this reasoned decision issued by the Supreme Court of Justice,
pursuant to the legislation in force at that time, the criminal action against the Navy
personnel [...] ha[d] been terminated and, therefore, it [was not possible] to file a
new action for the same facts.” Lastly, it stated that the “Procurator General of the
State [had been] informed that there [were] two streets in Ecuador with the name of
Consuelo Benavides Cevallos”.
14.
The Order of the Inter-American Court of November 27, 2002, in which it
decided:
1.
That the State had the obligation to take all necessary measures to comply fully
and promptly with the judgment of June 19, 1998, delivered by the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights in the Benavides Cevallos case, pursuant to the provisions of
Article 68(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights.
2.
That the State must present to the Court, by March 30, 2003, at the latest, a
detailed report on the measures taken to comply with the decision of the Court in the
seventh considering paragraph of this Order.
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