my point of view, within this Court, in other circumstances, in my Concurring Opinion
(paras. 20-23) in the case of the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay
(Judgment of 03.29.2006). In my understanding, in cases of massacres, or grave
violations, such as the present case of La Cantuta, it is not correct to demand
additional evidence of a non-pecuniary damage from the next of kin of the victims,
but instead presumptions should be applied in their favor. In my opinion, what is in
order here is a presumption (at least juris tantum, if not, in more grave
circumstances, juris et de jure), in benefit of the next of kin of the victims.
46.
It is possible to imagine, as a general rule, that in our Latin American societies,
where family ties are maintained tight (or at least tighter than in other post-industrial
social environments), a brother or sister of a person massacred or disappeared will
not undergo a personal suffering? Is it possible to imagine, as a general rule, that
they will not continue to suffer in the case of a violent death of a brother or sister? Is
it possible to imagine, as a general rule, that they will not continue to suffer in the
event of a forced disappearance of a brother or sister? For me, this is unimaginable,
as a general rule. Even so, this Court stated, in the present case of La Cantuta, that it
requires additional evidence of the damage to the brothers or sisters of the people
illegally detained, executed, and disappeared...
47.
The present Judgment of Interpretation that the Court has adopted in the case
of La Cantuta has duly clarified that Mrs. Carmen Juana Mariños Figueroa and Mr.
Marcelino Marcos Pablo Meza, sister and brother, respectively, of two of the fatal
victims, Mr. Juan Gabriel Mariños Figueroa and Mr. Heráclides Pablo Meza, are victims
of violations to Articles 8(1) and 25 (taken jointly), of the American Convention.
Therefore, they are ipso facto beneficiaries of different forms of non-pecuniary
reparation ordered in the previous Judgment of 11.29.2006 in the present case of La
Cantuta. In consequence, the amounts of pecuniary reparation were not affected by
the inclusion of both, through the present Judgment of Interpretation as victims also
of violations to the mentioned Articles 8(1) and 25 of the Convention.
48.
But the same did not occur with regard to Article 5(1) of the Convention, since
the Court applied the criterion – in my opinion mistaken – it established in the
Judgment on merits and reparations of 11.29.2006 (para. 128, transcribed supra),
according to which it demands evidence of the non-pecuniary damage, of the
suffering, in order to consider the siblings (of the fatal victims) as victims of a
violation of Article 5(1) of the Convention, by their own right. Said criterion of
“evidence of suffering” becomes, in my understanding, unsustainable, if not absurd,
when facing facts of such gravity, - which are of public and notary knowledge, - such
as those of the present case of La Cantuta.
49.
As if this were not enough, Mrs. Carmen Juana Mariños Figueroa and Mr.
Marcelino Marcos Pablo Meza were the sister and brother of two fatal victims (Messrs.
Juan Gabriel Mariños Figueroa and Heráclides Pablo Meza) who were among those
illegally and arbitrarily detained, executed, and they continue to be considered as
missing. Under said circumstances, contrary to that stated by the Court in its
Judgment of 11.29.2006 (para. 128) and in the present Judgment of Interpretation
(paras. 30-31), the sister and brother of one and the other, as well as the sisters and
brothers of the other fatal victims in the present case of La Cantuta, should have all
also been considered victims of Article 5(1) of the American Convention, at least by
presumption juris tantum.
50.
In my opinion, the Court must immediately abandon the unfortunate criteria
contra victim (and not pro victim!), which it hastily adopted – maybe inadvertently –
03.29.2006) in the case of the Sawhoyamaxa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay.