ORDER OF
THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
OF NOVEMBER 25, 2004*
PROVISIONAL MEASURES REQUESTED BY
THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
REGARDING THE STATE OF BARBADOS
CASE OF BOYCE AND JOSEPH V. BARBADOS
HAVING SEEN:
1.
The communication of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) of September
17, 2004, in which the Commission submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Court”, “the Court” or “the Tribunal”), in
accordance with Articles 63(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights
(hereinafter “the Convention”) and 25 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure (hereinafter
“the Rules of Procedure”), a request for the adoption of provisional measures in favor
of Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph of the State of Barbados (hereinafter “the State”
or “Barbados”), with the objective that “Barbados take all measures necessary to
preserve the lives and physical integrity of these alleged victims so as not to hinder
the processing of their cases before the Inter-American system.”
2.
The arguments of the Commission were based upon the following alleged
facts, submitted before it by solicitor Saul Lehrfreund, representative of the
beneficiaries:
*
a)
Lennox Boyce and Jeffrey Joseph were arraigned for the murder of
Marquelle Hippolyte on April 10, 1999, and on February 2, 2001 were
convicted of the crime and sentenced to a mandatory death penalty.
They have since been on death row at the Glendairy Prison in
Barbados;
b)
Barbados is responsible for violating the rights of Messrs. Boyce and
Joseph, including the rights to life, to due process, and to be protected
from inhumane treatment or punishment (Articles 2, 4, 5 and 8 of the
American Convention);
c)
the State’s mandatory death penalty violates the American
Convention’s prohibition against the death penalty, save for the most
serious offenses, and amounts to a violation of the alleged victims’
rights not to be deprived arbitrarily of their lives;
d)
Messrs. Boyce and Joseph have been or are currently at risk of being
exposed to cruel and inhuman treatment or punishment by virtue of
the following: the prison conditions in which they are now being held;
the reading of warrants of execution in June 2002 to the alleged
victims while appeals were still pending before the Judicial Committee
Judge Diego García-Sayán informed the Court that, for reasons of force majeure, he was unable
to be present during the final deliberations and signing of the present Order.