91
a) they endorse the requests made by the Commission in its application
regarding the pecuniary damages (consequential damages and “lost
earnings”), for which reason they asked that an amount be set in fairness to
establish the amount of compensation for said damages, and
b) it is necessary to take into account the additional expenses incurred by
the members of the Community and its leaders, regarding steps taken and
trips they had to make, which do not relate to specifically judicial actions, but
that have been necessary to demand justice.
Pleadings of the State
192. The State alleged that the damage and detriment that might have taken place
in the instant case has not been claimed before the State’s judicial system, and it
objected to admission of expenses allegedly incurred for the of the Yakye Axa
Community, as the invoices and other vouchers for those expenses were not
previously forwarded to the State, for which reason it has had no knowledge or
control over them, and has not authorized them.
Considerations of the Court
193. Pecuniary damages involve loss of or detriment to the victims’ income,
expenses incurred due to the facts, and pecuniary consequences that have a causal
link with the sub judice case,215 for which the Court, when it is appropriate, sets a
compensation for the property-related consequences of the violations found. In the
instant Judgment, to rule on the claims regarding pecuniary damages, the Court will
take into account the body of evidence in this case, the jurisprudence of the Court
itself, and the pleadings of the parties.
194. The Court deems that in the instant case compensation for pecuniary
damages must include the expenses incurred by the members of the Yakye Axa
Community in the various steps they took to recover the lands they consider their
own, such as going and traveling to various State agencies (supra para. 50.106).
The Court deems that the State must grant compensation for said expenses, because
there is a direct causal link with the facts involving violations in this case, and they
are not expenses incurred in connection with access to justice.216 (infra para. 232)
195. In this regard, the Court notes that some of these expenses were made by
the Tierraviva organization, representative of the victims, and they are general
expenses resulting from the abridgments found in this Judgment. Therefore, the
Court sets, in fairness, US$ 45,000.00 (forty-five thousand United States dollars) or
their equivalent in Paraguayan currency, for said expenses incurred by the members
of the Yakye Axa Community, some of which were covered by Tierraviva. Said
amount will be made available to the leaders of the Community, who must reimburse
Tierraviva the appropriate amount, and the remainder will be used for the purpose
215
See Case of Huilca Tecse, supra note 209, para. 93; Case of the Serrano Cruz Sisters, supra note
2, para. 150, and Case of the “Juvenile Reeducation Institute”, supra note 200, para. 283.
216
See Case of the Serrano Cruz Sisters, supra note 2, para. 152.
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