2 (hereinafter “Daniel Tibi”, “Tibi” or “the alleged victim”). The Commission also pointed out that the State did not grant Mr. Tibi the possibility of filing a remedy against the mistreatment allegedly received during his detention or against his protracted preventive detention, which the Commission argues abridged domestic legislation, and there was no prompt and simple remedy that he could file before a competent Court to protect himself from the violations of his basic rights. All this, according to the Commission, constitutes a breach of the obligation set forth in Article 2 of the American Convention, which require the State to give domestic legal effect to the rights embodied in Articles 5, 7, 8 and 25 of said Convention. 3. According to the facts stated in the application, Daniel Tibi was a gem merchant. He was arrested on September 27, 1995, while he was driving his car down a street in the city of Quito, Ecuador. According to the Commission, Mr. Tibi was detained by officers of the Quito police force without a court order. He was then taken by plane to the city of Guayaquil, approximately 600 kilometers from Quito, where he was placed in jail and was illegally detained for eighteen months. The Commission adds that Daniel Tibi asserted that he was innocent of the charges against him and that he was tortured several times, beaten, burned, and “asphyxiated” to force him to confess to his participation in a drug trafficking case. The Commission also states that when Mr. Tibi was arrested they seized goods that were his property, worth one million French francs, which were not returned to him when he was released, on January 21, 1998. It is the understanding of the Commission that the circumstances surrounding the arrest and arbitrary detention of Mr. Tibi, in the framework of the Ecuadorian law on narcotics and psychotropic substances [Ley de Sustancias Estupefacientes y Psicotrópicas] reveal numerous violations of the obligations imposed on the State by the American Convention. 4. The Commission also asked the Court to order the State to provide effective reparations, including compensation for pecuniary and non pecuniary damages suffered by Mr. Tibi. It also asked the State to adopt such legislative or other measures that may be required to ensure respect for the rights enshrined in the Convention regarding all persons under its jurisdiction, to avoid violations similar to those committed in this case in the future. Finally, the Commission asked the Court to order the State to pay reasonable and justified costs and expenses due to processing of the case under domestic venue and before the inter-American system. II COMPETENCE 5. The Court us competent to hear the instant case. Ecuador has been a State Party to the American Convention since December 28, 1977, and it accepted the adjudicatory jurisdiction of the Court on July 24, 1984. On November 9, 1999, Ecuador ratified the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (hereinafter “Inter-American Convention against Torture”). III PROCEEDING BEFORE THE COMMISSION 6. On July 16, 1998, through his attorney, Arthur Vercken, Daniel Tibi filed a complaint before the Inter-American Commission based on the alleged violation, by Ecuador and to his detriment, of Articles 5(1), 5(2) and 5(4); 7(1), 7(2), 7(3), 7(4), and 7(6), 8(1), 8(2)(a), 8(2)(b), 8(2)(c), 8(2)(d), 8(2)(e), 8(2)(f), 8(2)(g), 8(2)(h)