REPORT Nº 77/081 PETITION 1094-03 ADMISSIBILITY JOSÉ AGAPITO RUANO TORRES EL SALVADOR October 19, 2008 I. SUMMARY 1. On December 12, 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission”, “the Inter-American Commission” or “the IACHR”) received a petition lodged by Pedro Torres Hércules (hereinafter “the petitioner”), which claimed that theRepublic of El Salvador (hereinafter "the State", “El Salvador” or “the Salvadoran State”) boreinternational responsibility for alleged violation of the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection of José Agapito Ruano Torres (hereinafter “the alleged victim”). 2. The petitioner argues that the alleged victim was unfairly tried and convicted as a result of a judicial error in connection with his identity and he claims that he was tortured at the time of his arrest. With regard to admissibility requirements, he argues that domestic remedies were exhausted. 3. For its part, the State holds that there was no violation of the alleged victim’s rights to judicial protection and a fair trial, or of his right to humane treatment. It argues, furthermore, that his guilt was demonstrated in a duly supervised criminal proceeding. With respect to admissibility requirements, the State contends that the alleged victim chose not to make use of the various domestic remedies available to him and that the possibility was left pending of filing for a writ of amparo to seek relief for his allegedly abridged rights. 4. Without prejudging the merits of the matter and having examined the available information and satisfied itself that the admissibility requirements set forth inArticles 46 and 47 of the American Convention and in Articles 30 and 37 of its Rules of Procedure have been met, the IACHR concludes that the petition is admissible with regard to the alleged violation of rights recognized in Articles 5, 7, 8, and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the “American Convention” or the “Convention”), in connection with the general obligation enshrined by Article 1(1) of said international instrument. The Commission decides to notify the parties of this decision, publish it, and include it in its Annual Report to the General Assembly of the Organization of American States. II. PROCESSING BY THE COMMISSION 5. On December 12, 2003, the Commission received the petition, which was dated November 27, 2003, and assigned it case number 1094-03. On March 31, 2004, it transmitted the pertinent portions to the State and requested it to submit its reply within two months, in accordance with Article 30(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the “Rules of Procedure”). The reply of the State was received on May 28, 2004. 6. The IACHR also received information from the petitioner on the following dates: August 27, 2004; October 8, 2004; March 10, 2005; December 22, 2005; November 29, 2006; January 4 and 11, 2007; April 11, 2007; September 27, 2007; November 1, 2007, and March 25, 2008. Those communications were duly forwarded to the State. 7. In addition, the IACHR received comments from the State on the following dates: February 10, 2005; February 6, 2007; August 2, 2007; January 8, 2008, and June 11, 2008. Those communications were duly conveyed to the petitioner. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES 1 Commissioner Florentín Meléndez, a national of El Salvador, did not take part in the discussion or decision in the instant case, in accordance with Article 17(2) of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure 1