[…]
4.
A request for interpretation shall not suspend the effect of the judgment.
5.
The Court shall determine the procedure to be followed and shall render its
decision in the form of a judgment.
8.
In addition, Article 31(3) of the Rules of Procedure establishes that “[t]he
judgments and orders of the Court may not be contested in any way.”
9.
The Court observes that the representative presented his request for
interpretation of judgment within the 90-day period established in Article 67 of the
Convention, because it was notified on March 29, 2011.
10.
As the Court has ruled previously in its consistent case law, clearly supported
by the applicable law, a request for interpretation of judgment should not be used as
a means of contesting the decision whose interpretation is required. The purpose of
this request is exclusively to determine the meaning of a ruling when one of the
parties affirms that the text of its operative paragraphs or its considerations lacks
clarity or precision, provided that those considerations affect the said operative
paragraph.3 Consequently, it is not possible to request the modification or annulment
of the respective judgment by means of a request for interpretation.4
11.
The Court will proceed to analyze the request for interpretation submitted by
the representative and, if appropriate, make the clarifications that it deems
pertinent. To this end, it will examine the questions raised by the representative and
the arguments of the State. As already mentioned (supra para. 4), the Commission
indicated that it had no observations to make on the request for interpretation of the
judgment.
IV
INADMISSIBILITY OF THE REQUEST FOR INTERPRETATION
Arguments of the parties
12.
The representative indicated that the victims “have the right to express [...]
their disagreement concerning the amount [established in the judgment] for
pecuniary damage.” In particular, the representative argued that the Court “inverts
the juridical principle of the burden of proof so that it is for the victims to contradict
the State’s initial argument which asserted that the 1993 salary restructuring
absorbs the increases arising from the salary scale system,” “when it is public
knowledge that, owing to the strictly confidential nature of the 1993 salary
restructuring,” “the victims were not in a position to be aware of or possess the
documentation related to the said salary restructuring.” He insisted that the 1993
3
Cf. Case of Loayza Tamayo v. Peru. Interpretation of the Judgment on merits. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of March 8, 1998. Series C No. 47, para. 16; Case of Fernández Ortega
et al. v. Mexico. Interpretation of the judgment on preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs.
Judgment of May 15, 2011. Series C No. 226, para. 11, and Case of Salvador Chiriboga v. Ecuador.
Interpretation of the judgment on reparations and costs. Judgment of August 29, 2011 Series C No. 230,
para. 11.
4
Cf. Case of Loayza Tamayo v. Peru. Interpretation of the judgment on merits, supra note 1, para.
16; Case of Fernández Ortega et al. v. Mexico. Interpretation of the judgment on preliminary objection,
merits, reparations and costs, supra note 1, para. 11, and Case of Salvador Chiriboga v. Ecuador.
Interpretation of the judgment on reparations and costs, supra note 1, para. 11.
3