dismissals were based infringed on their right to due process. They also point out that
the legislation itself, in addition to other actions undertaken by the Executive Branch to
influence the Judicial Branch, created a climate of legal vulnerability and insecurity that
prevented them from obtaining a judicial remedy even though they had made use of
judicial bodies. Also, the petitioners state that the efforts made by the State to give
reparations for some of the consequences of the violations cannot affect or influence in
any way the competence of the IACHR to continue processing the case.
67.
The State argues that the situation about which the petitioners
originally complained had substantially changed because several of the petitioners had
voluntarily accepted certain benefits granted by the State as means of providing
reparations for the prejudicial results of the dismissals. As a result, the State argues
that the matter being studied by the IACHR has become abstract.
68.
The Commission considers it relevant to review this argument here,
based on information available to the parties and the decisions of the Commission and
the Inter-American Court on this subject.
69.
First, the Commission reviews the doctrine of the Inter-American
Court in the Gómez Paquiyauri Brothers v. Peru case in which the Court stated:
that the international responsibility of the State arises immediately when the
internationally illegal act attributed to it is committed, although it can only be
demanded once the State has had the opportunity to correct it by its own
means. Possible subsequent reparation under domestic legal venue does not
inhibit the Commission or the Court from hearing the case that has already
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begun under the American Convention.
70.
In effect, the violations of the American Convention alleged by the
petitioners had been committed beginning in December 1995; while the petition was
submitted to be heard by the IACHR before issue of the norms that the State cites as
giving rise to the compensation granted to the petitioners. Consequently, the
Commission can hear the matter in order to determine whether an international
illegality attributable to the State was committed and if so, in that case, its
international responsibility is enforceable as to whether it had the opportunity to repair
the damage and what measures it took and at what time in this regard.
71.
In accordance with Article 48.b of the Convention, the IACHR must
verify “whether the grounds for the petition or communication still exist” before
analyzing the situation in depth. Thus, the legal question to be analyzed is whether
acceptance by the petitioners in this case of the measures offered by the State altered
the complaint originally submitted to the Commission, to such a degree that the
grounds leading to the petition no longer exist in the present.
72.
In this regard, the Commission observes that the original complaint
submitted by the petitioners referred to the State’s alleged international responsibility
for violating the rights to due process, the principle of legality, and judicial protection
with the illegal dismissal of the 85 alleged victims. Likewise, the facts after 2001 refer
to a series of measures adopted by the State designed to repair the damage to the
former workers who were irregularly dismissed, among which is the group of 34
petitioners in the present case. The State alleges that as a result of applying these
25 I/A Court H.R., Case of the Gómez Paquiyauri Brothers. Judgment of July 8, 2005, Series C, No. 110,
para. 75.
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