4
participate in the process of exhumation and identification of the victims and collection of
forensic evidence;
b)
To ask the Court to urgently rule on the points of concern raised in this brief, so as
to avoid irreparable damage in the process of exhumation, identification and documentation
of the injuries sustained by the victims buried in the La Peste clandestine graves; and
c)
To ask the Court to order the State to keep the victims and their representatives
abreast of any and all actions intended to be taken in compliance with and performance of
the Judgment, even allowing them to become actively involved in said process.
9.
That the State has yet to submit the observations that were requested of it through
the communication of September 17, 2009.
10.
That, as regards the State’s obligation to locate, exhume and identify the remains
of the victims, in the Judgment the Court ruled as follows:
124.
The State must, therefore, locate, exhume, identify by means of
undoubtedly suitable techniques and instruments, the remains of the victims
mentioned in the paragraphs immediately above. The costs of the ensuing burial, in
the place chosen by the next of kin, must be covered by the State. The mortal
remains of Elsa Teotiste Ramírez-Caminero, in accordance with the wishes of her
next of kin, must be transferred and buried in the Dominican Republic, which is the
country of origin of the victim, and the cost must be covered by the State.
125.
The State must, also, locate, exhume, identify and deliver to the next of kin
the remains of those persons whose deaths were not attributed to the State in the
judgment on the merits, but whose next of kin also have the right to know their
whereabouts. These persons are: Jesús Salvador Cedeño, Jesús Rafael Villalobos,
Abelardo Antonio Pérez, and Andrés Eloy Suárez Sánchez, who are the victims of a
violation of Articles 8 and 25 of the Convention.
126.
So as to give impetus to the criminal proceedings in connection with the
facts, to provide guarantees of non-recidivism of the latter, to take steps in the
struggle against impunity, and to advance in the process of locating the mortal
remains of all the aforementioned victims, it is relevant for the State to take all
necessary steps to renew and complete, as soon as possible and applying suitable
techniques and instruments, the process of exhumation and identification of the
persons buried in the “La Peste” Sector of the General Southern Cemetery, in
Caracas. Specifically, it must renew and complete the identification of the persons
whose bodies were exhumed in 1990 (supra para. 66.7 and 66.8) and it must
deliver their remains to their next of kin, for them to bury those remains in the
appropriate manner at the place they choose.
11.
That the Court’s case-law establishes that, in cases involving extra-legal
executions, the State is required to carry out a serious, impartial, effective investigation of
the facts.4 Moreover, more specifically in connection with the exhumation of human
remains and their technical identification, the Court has held that “autopsies, as well as
analyses of skeletal remains must be rigorously performed by competent professionals,
employing the most appropriate procedures.”5
4
Case of the Moiwana Community v. Surinam. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of June 15, 2005. Series C No. 124, para. 149, and Case of Juan Humberto Sánchez V. Honduras.
Interpretation of Judgment on Preliminary Objection, Merits and Reparations. Judgment of November 26, 2003.
Series C No. 102, para. 127. Along the same lines, see United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and
Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, Doc. E/ST/CSDHA/.12 (1991).
5
Case of the Moiwana Community v. Surinam. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs,
supra note 4, para. 149; Case of Juan Humberto Sánchez V. Honduras. Interpretation of Judgment on
Preliminary Objection, Merits and Reparations, supra note 4, para. 127; and Case of the Mapiripán Massacre v.