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the murder of Joe Luis Castillo González and the injuries to Yelitze Moreno
de Castillo and Luis César Castillo Moreno.
b)
Institute the appropriate administrative, disciplinary, or criminal proceedings
to address the acts or omissions of the State officials who contributed to the
denial of justice and impunity in which are the facts of the case.
c)
Strengthen institutional capacities to combat the pattern of impunity in cases
of extrajudicial execution, through effective criminal investigations in which
there is consistent judicial follow-up, thereby ensuring the appropriate
sanction and reparation.
d)
Provide adequate reparation for the human rights violations recognized in the
instant report, which should include both material and moral damages.
In addition, the Commission wishes to emphasize that this case involves issues of
inter-American public interest as the contexts of violence and harassment faced by human
rights defenders, and the chilling effect that can be generated on the community of human
rights defenders by the murder of someone like Joe Luís Castillo González. The IACHR
points out that this chilling effect is increased proportionally with the level of impunity of acts
of this nature.
The Commission considers that due diligence in investigating the murder of a human
rights defender should include the analysis of the logical lines of investigation that the
respective authorities should have followed, taking into account both the victim’s work and
the context in which he carried out his work defending human rights. In the IACHR’s opinion,
these aspects concern the inter-American public interest and, therefore, offers the following
expert declarations in accordance with Article 35(1)( f) of the Rules of Procedure of the InterAmerican Court:
a)
Raúl Cubas, who will testify about the context in the Zulia State on the date of the
events and, in particular, in the municipality of Machiques border zone. The
declaration is intended to cover the context of violence in the area derived from
both the influence of illegal armed groups and peasant land struggles, as well as
the effects of said context in the work of human rights defenders. The above, to
illustrate on the lines of investigation that could have been followed in the case,
according to the indicia in the file.
b)
Pedro Berrizbeitia, who will testify about the circumstances that have contributed
to the impunity in this case, through an analysis of the investigations carried out
at the domestic level and its adequacy to international standards of human rights
applicable to the obligation to investigate seriously and with due diligence the
murder of a human rights defender, including logical lines of investigation.
The curricula vitae of the experts proposed by the Inter-American Commission are
attached.
Finally, with regards to the representation of the victims before the Inter-American
Court, the petitioners indicated that:
The representatives of the victims in the instant case are the Vicaría Episcopal de
Derechos Humanos de Caracas represented by the lawyers Carlos Ayala Corao,
José Gregorio Guarenas and Alfredo Vázquez Loureda; and the Center for Justice
and International Law (CEJIL), represented by the lawyers Viviana Krsticevic, Ariela
Peralta, Annette M. Martínez, and Francisco Quintana