second conviction. Finally, they indicated that his first criminal case concluded with judgment
No. 680-2007 of July 17, 2007, and the Criminal Cassation decision of March 11, 2008, and
that through judgment No. 2012-001297 of August 29, 2012, the Third Chamber of Criminal
Cassation ruled on an erroneous basis to determine the sentence; in other words, it did not
hear the facts or evidence assessed in the trial. In their final written arguments, they held
that “the fact that Jorge Martínez’s challenge to judgment No. N°680-2007 […]eventually
addressed in the decision on the appeal for cassation, No. 2008-00232 [...][,] or in the appeal
for review, decision No. 2012-1297 […] does not make such remedies […] adequate, suitable
or effective […].”
35.
The Inter-American Defenders requested that the objection be rejected. They
explained that all the alleged victims had filed an appeal in cassation against the conviction,
considering that the domestic remedy had been exhausted, and that if some of them did not
file for review, it would be because this is not part of the challenge procedure. They explained
that the review provided for in the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973 and the Code of
Criminal Procedure of 1996, as well as in the transitory provisions of Laws 8503 and 8837, is
an exceptional remedy; therefore, the alleged victims were not obliged to exhaust it.
Furthermore, they indicated that the obligation to exhaust domestic remedies could never be
extended to those means or procedures that arise after the petition has been lodged with the
Commission. They also presented specific and detailed arguments regarding the alleged
victims Rafael Antonio Rojas Madrigal, Fernando Saldarriaga Saldarriaga, Guillermo Rodríguez
Silva, Marín Rojas Hernández and Manuel Hernández Quesada, to argue that they did exhaust
the domestic remedies.
36.
The common interveners SIPDH requested that the State’s objection be declared
inadmissible. First, they argued that in application of Article 46(2)(a) of the Convention, the
Court should consider the analysis of the objection together with the examination of the merits
of the case, since this is when evidence and arguments can be invoked on the alleged
existence or not of effective legal remedies. Secondly, they argued that in this case there was
estoppel, because the State acknowledged before the Commission that the review procedure
was exceptional; however, before the Court, the State argued that this remedy should have
been exhausted. Third, they recalled that in the Herrera Ulloa case the Court confirmed the
inefficacy of the remedy of cassation, so that it was not a remedy that the petitioners were
obliged to exhaust.
37.
Fourth, they argued that none of the petitioners was under the obligation to exhaust
the special remedy of review contemplated in the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1973, the
Code of Criminal Procedure of 1996 and the transitory provisions of Laws 8503 and 8837,
since its filing required a final criminal judgment and it did not have the characteristics of a
comprehensive remedy that could review facts and assess evidence. Fifth, they alleged that
when the petitioners were already serving their prison sentences, the criminal remedy was
adapted to Article 8(2)(h) by means of a motion for appeal, but that the legislation did not
include the right of the alleged victims to invoke the new remedy of appeal. Finally, they
presented specific and detailed arguments with respect to the alleged victims Manfred
Amrhein Pinto, Ronald Fernández Pinto, Carlos Osborne Escalante, Carlos Manuel González
Lizano, Arturo Fallas Zúñiga, Carlos Eduardo Yepes Cruz, Luis Archbold Jay, Enrique Floyd
Archbold Jay, Miguel Antonio Valverde Montoya, Miguel Mora Calvo and Damas Vega Atencio.
38.
Regarding the conditions of detention and the lack of adequate medical care at the
CAI La Reforma for Mr. Damas Vega Atencio, SIPDH indicated that Article 46(2)(b) of the
American Convention is applicable, due to his disadvantaged situation with respect to any
other citizen. It was argued that, being a person deprived of liberty materially and
operationally limited his access to justice. This was exacerbated by his documented health
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