B.
Measures of integral reparation: rehabilitation, satisfaction, and guarantees
of non-repetition
B.1. Rehabilitation
B.1.1. Physical and psychological
B.1.1.1. Arguments of the Commission and pleadings of the parties
309. The Inter-American Commission requested assurance that while César Alberto
Mendoza, Claudio David Núñez, Lucas Matías Mendoza and Saúl Cristian Roldán Cajal
remained deprived of liberty, they would receive the medical care they required. The
representative asked that “medical and psychological treatment and care be provided” to
the said victims. 380 In the case of Lucas Matías Mendoza, she indicated that medical care
“should include periodic consultations and ophthalmological treatment.” The State did not
submit observations in this regard.
B.1.1.2. Considerations of the Court
310. In this judgment the Court has established the psychological impact of the life
sentences imposed on César Alberto Mendoza, Claudio David Núñez, Lucas Matías Mendoza
and Saúl Cristian Roldán Cajal, based on which the Court considered them cruel and
inhuman treatment (supra para. 183). Expert witness Laura Sobredo concluded that “all
those experiences [suffered by the youths] should be considered traumatic [… and] indelible
events.” The Court also noted that, owing to the inadequate medical attention to his visual
problems, Lucas Matías suffered permanent damage while in State custody (supra paras.
187 to 195). In addition, the Court established that Claudio David Núñez and Lucas Matías
Mendoza had been victims of torture in the Federal Prison Complex (supra para. 211).
311. Therefore, the Court finds, as it has in other cases, 381 that the State must provide,
immediately and free of charge, through its specialized health care institutions and
personnel, the necessary, adequate and effective medical, and psychological or psychiatric
care to Lucas Matías Mendoza and Claudio David Núñez, and the necessary psychological or
psychiatric care to César Alberto Mendoza and Saúl Cristian Roldán Cajal, if they all request
this, including the free provision of any medication they may eventually require, taking into
consideration the ailments of each one related to this case. In particular, in the case of
Lucas Matías Mendoza, the Court orders that the State provide immediately the
ophthalmological, surgical and/or specialized therapeutic treatment that may alleviate or
improve his visual problems.
312. If the State lacks adequate health care institutions or personnel, it must have
recourse to specialized private institutions or institutions of civil society. Also, in the case of
the victims who have been released, the respective treatments must be provided, to the
extent possible, in the centers closest to their place of residence in Argentina for as long as
380
The representative stated that, until they are released, this measure of reparation must be implemented
“by specialized professionals, who are not part of the structure of the services provided by the prison in which they
are detained” and, when “they have been released from the prisons, the medical and psychological care must be
provided in specialized medical centers and by excellent professionals.”
381
Cf. Case of Barrios Altos v. Peru. Reparations and costs. Judgment of November 30, 2001. Series C No.
87, paras. 42 and 45, and Case of Artavia Murillo et al. (In vitro fertilization) v. Costa Rica, para. 326.
98