REPORT N° 78/08 PETITION 785-05 ADMISSIBILITY RAFAEL ARTURO PACHECO TERUEL ET AL. (DEATH FROM FIRE AT SAN PEDRO SULA PRISON) HONDURAS October 17, 2008 I. SUMMARY 1. On July 14, 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the “InterAmerican Commission”, the “Commission” or the “IACHR”) received a petition lodged by the Pastoral Penitenciaria, CARITAS Sampedrana, and Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación y Comunicación (hereinafter “the petitioners”) against the State of Honduras (hereinafter “Honduras”, “the State” or “the Honduran State”) for alleged violation of Articles 4, 5, 8, and 25, in conjunction with Article 1(1), of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the “Convention” or the “American Convention”), for the alleged violations of the fundamental rights of 107 persons deprived of liberty who died at San Pedro Sula Prison (hereinafter “the alleged victims”). 2. The petitioners hold that on May 17, 2004, a fire broke out at San Pedro Sula Prison that resulted in the deaths of 107 inmates. They also note that more than four years after the events, the investigation opened by the State remains at a preliminary stage. As regards admissibility requirements, they say that the domestic judicial proceeding have not proven effective for punishing the alleged culprits and the families of the alleged victims have been denied a simple and prompt remedy by which to know what really happened and obtain fair compensation for damages. 3. For its part, the State argues that the remedies under domestic jurisdiction have not been exhausted in view of the fact that the investigations to determine the responsibility of the officials involved in this case remain ongoing. The State also says that the statute of limitations on the right of the State to prosecute the matter has not run and, therefore, it still has the possibility of affording protection to the alleged victims by means of domestic mechanisms. 4. Without prejudging the merits in the matter and having analyzed the available information and ascertained that the admissibility requirements have been met pursuant to Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention and Articles 30 and 37 of its Rules of Procedure, the IACHR concludes that the petition is admissible with regard to the alleged violations of the rights set forth in Articles 4, 5, 8 and 25 of the American Convention, in connection with the general obligation enshrined in Article 1(1) of said international instrument. In addition, based on the principle iura novit curia, the Commission concludes that the petition is admissible with regard to the alleged violation of Article 7 of the American Convention. The Commission resolves to notify the parties of this decision, publish it, and include it in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States. II. PROCESSING BY THE COMMISSION1 5. On July 14, 2005, the Commission received the petition and assigned it case number 78505.2 On October 12, 2006, it forwarded the pertinent portions to the State and gave it two 1 On May 19, 2004, the Inter-American Commission, in accordance with article 41 of the American Convention, sent a letter to the State expressing its concern over the May 17, 2004 fire in Cellblock 19 of the San Pedro Sula Prison and requested information on the “circumstances related to the tragic events and the measures adopted to investigate the facts, assess responsibility, process and sanction the responsible parties and on measures to prevent similar events from occurring in the future.” On June 3, 2004, the State submitted its reply, informing the Commission that it was proceeding with the relevant enquiries into the facts of the fire. 2 On June 14, 2004, the IACHR received petition 724-04 lodged by the Criminal Law Department at Buenos Aires University Law School. This petition was joined with petition 785-05 because it concerned the same facts and the petitioners in the latter complaint were in direct contact with the families of the alleged victims. The decision was transmitted to the petitioners on October 12, 2006. 1