the State. 190 It has stated that this article has two types of regulations that are well
differentiated from each other, one general and the other specific. The general is found
in the first numeral: "[e]very person has the right to personal liberty and security." While
the specific one is made up of a series of guarantees that protect the right not to be
unlawfully deprived of liberty (article 7(2)) or arbitrarily (article 7(3)), to know the
reasons for the detention and the charges filed against the detainee (article 7(4)), to
judicial control of the deprivation of liberty and the reasonableness of the period of
preventive detention (article 7(5)), to challenge the legality of the detention (article
7(6)) and not to be detained for debts (article 7(7)). 191 Any violation of numerals 2 to 7
of Article 7 of the Convention will necessarily entail the violation of article 7(1) thereof. 192
131. In this case, the Court confirms that the presumed victims were subject to
criminal proceedings from March 21, 2011, the date on which the then President filed a
complaint before the Fifteenth Court, until February 28, 2012, on which the National
Court accepted the pardon granted by the then President. Similarly, the Court recalls
that the alleged victims were sentenced on July 20, 2011, in the first instance, to three
years in prison and the payment of USD $30,000,000 (thirty million United States
dollars) jointly and severally. This decision would later be confirmed by the decision of
the Provincial Court of September 22, 2011, where the motions for annulment and
appeal filed by the alleged victims were rejected.
132. The Court notes that, throughout this process, the alleged victims were subject
to the requirements of the criminal process, which included attending the hearings during
the first instance trial, and during the annulment and appeal process, as well as being
available for the different actions that occurred throughout that period. Furthermore,
that, in effect, they suffered the anguish of the possible depravation of their liberty from
the moment the first instance conviction was handed down, and even more so from the
moment it was confirmed by the Provincial Court. However, the Court notes that the
alleged victims were never effectively deprived of their liberty during the process and
after the sentence was handed down, and that they were granted a pardon that
eliminated the legal possibility of being detained in relation to said process.
133. Thus, the Court notes that the restrictions on the personal liberty of the alleged
victims due to the actions they had to carry out during the trial against them are inherent
to the existence of a criminal proceeding, and therefore they did not constitute a
limitation that violates the right to freedom of expression under the terms of Article 7 of
the Convention. In addition, the Court notes that the mere existence of the criminal
conviction against the alleged victims did not constitute a restriction on their personal
liberty, since it was not carried out and because the then President granted a pardon
that extinguished the sentence. 193 Consequently, the Court concludes that the State is
not responsible for the violation of Article 7(2) of the Convention, to the detriment of
Cf. Case of "Instituto de Reeducación del Menor" v. Paraguay. Preliminary Exceptions, Merits,
Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 2, 2004. Series C No. 112, par. 223, and Case of González et
al. v. Venezuela. Merits and Reparations. Judgment of September 20, 2021. Series C No. 436, par. 94.
190
Cf. Case of Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez v. Ecuador. Preliminary Exceptions, Merits, Reparations
and Costs. Judgment of November 21, 2007. Series C No. 170, par. 51, and Case of Guerrero, Molina et al. v.
Venezuela. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of June 3, 2021. Series C No. 424, par. 103.
191
Cf. Case of Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez v. Ecuador, supra, par. 54, and Case of Jenkins v.
Argentina. Preliminary Exceptions, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 26, 2019. Series C
No. 397, par. 71.
192
193
Cf. Expert report of Juan Pablo Albán (Merits File, folio 1562).
44
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