5
16.
In this end, the Court recalls that the search and delivery of remains and the
subsequent investigation into the facts not only allows for closure for the next-of-kin of the
disappeared victim, but also facilitates the attainment of justice. The remains are proof of
what has taken place and provide evidence of the treatment the victim received, the
manner in which he was executed, the modus operandi, and the efforts make to conceal it.
The place in which such remains are found may also provide valuable information on the
perpetrators or the institution they belonged to, above all when dealing with clandestine
cemeteries or graves located on State premises.10
17.
Although the State values the initiative regarding the "Ley de la Comisión para la
Búsqueda de Personas, Víctimas de la Desaparición Forzada y otras formas de Desaparición
[Law on the Commission for the Search of Victims of Forced Disappearance and Other
Missing Persons]," it deems it to be crucial that the State adopt specific measures to
promptly and fully comply with its obligations to search and locate the mortal remains of
María and Josefa Tiu Tojín. In this regard, the State shall submit a schedule for all the
efforts it will make to search, locate and identify the remains, the possible dates thereof,
and the institutions or persons that will conduct them. In this schedule, the State shall
indicate the administrative or budgetary measures it will take prior to beginning its
investigatory activities. It must also identify difficulties encountered in the case and a plan
to overcome them within a certain period.
C)
Regarding the obligation to publish, at least once, in the Official
Gazette, and in another national daily newspaper, Chapters I, IV and VI and
paragraphs 67 to 120 from Chapter VII of the Judgment (Operative
Paragraph 8 of the Judgment)
18.
The State reported that on “March 3 and 31, 2009, the Judgment on Merits,
Reparations, and Costs was published in the written media "The Official Gazette or the
Central American Gazette" and the newspaper "El Periódico.” The State submitted copies of
both publications.
19.
The representatives noted they “did not have any observations” regarding the State’s
information, and that this point “had been satisfactorily complied with.”
20.
For its part, the Commission appreciated that the State had fully complied with this
point.
21.
The Court notes that the State has provided documentation showing the publications
were made in the Official Gazette/Central American Gazette on March 3, 2009, and in El
Periódico, a widely circulated national newspaper, on March 31, 2009. In this respect, the
Court deems that the State’s publications satisfy the Court’s order, for which it declares that
the State has complied with this reparation measure.
D)
Regarding the obligation to broadcast on the radio, in the K'iche
language and Spanish, one just one occasion, Chapters I, IV and VI and
paragraphs 67 to 120 from Chapter VII, as well as the Operative
Paragraphs, of the [...] Judgment, excluding the footnotes (Operative
Paragraph 9 of the Judgment)
22.
The State indicated that “on October 11 and 18, 2009 the Judgment was announced
on Radio Quiché from 11:00 to 11:45 a.m.” in “Spanish.” The State reported that, following
10
Case of Molina Theissen, supra note 9, Considering Clause 22.