85
victims by providing them with previous, clear and sufficient background
information. Consequently, the State must allocate to each of the victims, only
once, within a term of two months as of notification of this Judgment, the amount
of US$ 7.500,00 (seven thousand five hundred dollars of the United States of
America) on account of specialized medical and psychological treatment, as well as
medicines and other related expenses.
ii) Deleting the victims’ names from all criminal records
222. The representatives sustained that Messrs. Cabrera and Montiel “are
innocent” of the accusations for which they were sentenced. Therefore, the
representatives requested the Court to order the Mexican State “to take all the
necessary measures to delete immediately the names of Messrs. Montiel and
Cabrera from any criminal record as well as to permanently delete any criminal
record for the facts reported in this case.” The State pointed out that it was not
applicable to delete the criminal record of the petitioners in this case, reiterating
that no violations of the American Convention have been committed and that their
release was due to “humane considerations and not to procedural faults.”
223. The Court has noted in other cases that it is not a criminal court that
analyzes the criminal liability of individual and that it shall not decide on the guilt or
innocence of individuals, since this is a matter of the domestic criminal
jurisdiction.331 Based on the foregoing and of the violations declared in this
Judgment, this Tribunal considers that it is not possible to order a measure of
reparation under the terms requested.
C.3
Guarantees of Non-Repetition
i) Adapting domestic law to international standards regarding justice
224. The Commission requested the Court to order Mexico to limit the scope of its
military jurisdiction. The representatives requested that “the State […] must be
ordered to amend article 57 of the Code of Military Justice, in order to establish, in
a clear and precise manner and with no ambiguities, that military justice must
abstain from hearing any violations of human rights allegedly committed by
members of the Mexican armed forces, whether on duty or not, in any alleged
situation.” Likewise, the representatives requested to establish an “effective
remedy to challenge the decision to transfer the proceedings to military
jurisdiction.” Lastly, in view of the State’s information regarding a proposal to
amend article 57 of the Code of Military Justice, in compliance with the Judgment of
the Court in the case of Radilla Pacheco, the representatives pointed out that “the
information disseminated by the Presidency seems to imply that the amendment
proposal [...] shall not comply with [the terms established in said Judgment]” and
that, at any case, “the amendment […] has not been adopted.”
225. This Court has held in its case law that it is aware that domestic authorities
are bound to respect the rule of law, and therefore, they are bound to apply the
provisions in force within the legal system.332 But when a State has ratified an
331
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra note 25, para. 134, Case of Lori
Berenson Mejía v. Perú. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 25, 2004. Series C N°
119, para. 92; Case of Barreto Leiva v. Venezuela, supra note 100, para. 24
332
Cf. Case of Almonacid Arellano et al v. Chile. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and
Costs. Judgment of September 26, 2006. Series C No. 154, para. 124; Case of Rosendo Cantú et al v.
Mexico, supra note 30, para. 219; and Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña v. Bolivia, supra note 30,
para. 202.
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