5
which the parties can request the Court to issue clarifications about the meaning or
scope of a judgment. In the instant case, the request made by Brazil does not refer to
a possible editing error in the judgment that could be rectified based on Article 76 of
the Rules of Procedure. To the contrary, in view of the possible anomaly of the element
alleged by the State, the channel that could be in order to clarify the meaning and
scope of the eighth operative paragraph of the judgment would be a request for
interpretation of judgment, which must be filed within ninety days of the date of its
notification, a time frame that has long been exceeded.
13.
To clarify any possible doubts that the State may have, the Court finds it
relevant to reaffirm that the measure of reparation questioned by Brazil is not the
result of an error. Examination of the judgment reveals clearly that the Court
considered and ordered this measure of reparation after assessing the request of the
Inter-American Commission and in view of the absence of any specific arguments from
the other parties, as can be verified in paragraphs 237 to 239 of the chapter on
reparations and, thus, in the eighth operative paragraph of the judgment. These
references show clearly and coherently the content, form and time frame established
by the Court for the State to comply with the obligation to publish the relevant parts of
the judgment.
14.
Furthermore, this measure of reparation is in keeping with the provisions of the
Convention and the Rules of Procedure, as well as the Court’s case law. Indeed, the
Court recalls that the order to publish parts of the judgment in a newspaper is a usual
measure of reparation that can be found in almost all the rulings delivered by this
Court in recent years. Usually, this measure complements the publication that the
State in question must make in its official gazette. Depending on the circumstances of
the case, on previous occasions the Court has also ordered that the same publication
be made in a national newspaper and a newspaper abroad,8 or in a national newspaper
and also in other social communication media,9 should the reparation of the violation
declared and other circumstances of the case merit this. In addition, the content of the
extracts of the judgment to be published depends on the violations found in the
specific case, how they were committed and the extent of the damage caused. In the
instant case, the content to be published is adequate in relation to the human rights
violations found and, in length; it does not differ substantially from what has been
ordered in other cases concerning other States.10
7
Article 68. Request for interpretation
1.
The request for interpretation referred to in Article 67 of the Convention may be made in
connection with judgments on preliminary objections, on the merits, or on reparations and costs, and
shall be filed with the Secretariat. It shall state with precision questions relating to the meaning or
scope of the judgment of which interpretation is requested.
[…]
8
Cf. Tibi v. Ecuador. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of September 7,
2004. Series C No. 114, eleventh operative paragraph.
9
Cf. Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of June
17, 2005. Series C No. 125, twelfth operative paragraph; Miguel Castro Castro Prison v. Peru. Merits,
reparations and costs. Judgment of November 25, 2006. Series C No. 160, seventeenth operative paragraph,
and Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez. v. Ecuador. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs.
Judgment of November 21, 2007. Series C No. 170, tenth operative paragraph, among others.
10
Cf. Anzualdo Castro v. Peru. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
September 22, 2009. Series C No. 202, tenth operative paragraph; Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico. Preliminary
objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 23, 2009. Series C No. 209, thirteenth
operative paragraph, and The Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations
and costs. Judgment of November 24, 2009. Series C No. 211, thirteenth operative paragraph, among
others.