indicates that he went, unaccompanied by counsel, with the objective of collaborating in the
investigation. He was detained that same day, and held until August 12, 1980 when he was
released on his own recognizance.
17. While he does not invoke these facts as violations before the Commission, he nonetheless
notes that during those two weeks he was brutally tortured. He reports having been held
incommunicado for five days in the Central Department of the Federal Police in Buenos Aires, and
questioned in the National Bank. He alleges that he was threatened with death to pressure him to
reveal the whereabouts of funds that he knew nothing about. He states that he was beaten,
hooded and tortured with the application of electricity. He indicates that when he was finally taken
before a magistrate, he wanted to denounce what had happened, but a court official warned him
that, given the political circumstances, this would place his life at risk and that it was better to say
nothing.
18. Mr. Grande reportedly remained under criminal prosecution from August 29, 1980 until the
charges against him were definitively dismissed on January 24, 1989. He indicates that the
definitive dismissal of the charges was based on the nullification of the searches of the bank and
seizure of documents by the Federal Chamber of Appeals, which determined that those actions
had been carried out absent written judicial authorization and in violation of the Constitution.
19. Mr. Grande indicates that he then filed an action for damages against the State arising from
his allegedly unjust detention and prosecution On April 14, 1992, the judge at first instance of the
Federal Administrative Contentious Court ordered that the State pay Mr. Grande damages in the
amount of $150,000 plus interest and costs. He reports that this decision was based on the
finding that the irregular actions of the Federal Police had led to deficiencies in the administration
of justice. He notes that the resulting damages to his psychological state were proven in this
process through various means including the opinion of the court’s own medical expert.
20. Both the State and Mr. Grande appealed that decision. On April 6, 1993, the National
Chamber of Appeals in Federal Administrative and Contentious Matters revoked the sentence
issued at first instance. The appellate chamber opined that, first, State responsibility could only be
established in the case of an “evident, manifest and unquestionable” judicial error, and that this
had not been demonstrated in Mr. Grande’s case. Mr. Grande maintains that the error on which
his prosecution was based in fact met that standard, and that the process against him was
characterized by its very irregularity. Second, the appellate chamber decided that Mr. Grande had
not utilized all the available legal remedies to obtain an immediate remedy for the wrongs he
claimed. He indicates that any limitations he may have experienced in his capacity to pursue other
legal remedies were due precisely to the psychological damage sustained as a result of his
treatment. Further, he notes that the Chamber of Appeals arrived at its determination that there
had been no manifest error in the process against him by pointing out that the definitive dismissal
was based not on Mr. Grande’s innocence but on the impossibility of producing new evidence
against him.
21. He reports having filed a recurso extraordinario before the National Chamber of Appeals
seeking review of its decision. Following the denial of that recourse, he presented a recurso de
queja before the Supreme Court of Justice. The latter was rejected as inadmissible on April 12,
1994, and he reports having received notification on May 3, 1994. He maintains that it was at this
point that he exhausted domestic remedies.
22. The petitioners contend that Mr. Grande was subjected to an illegal and arbitrary detention
and prosecution at the hands of the military dictatorship, which charged him with “economic
subversion.” They maintain that the facts alleged constitute violations of Article 8 of the American
Convention, particularly concerning the due process guarantees required during criminal
proceedings, and Article 10, concerning the right to receive compensation in the event of being
sentenced by a final judgment through a miscarriage of justice.
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