lesson, that of one who sought the “liberation” or “emancipation” of the
soul26 so much." (paras. 48-49).
V.
The Importance of the Oral Procedure and the Need to Hold Public
Hearings.
27.
I allow myself, in the present Concurring Opinion, to spread upon the record the
importance I attribute to the oral proceedings before the Court and the need – which I
have always defended within this Tribunal, - of the holding of public hearings before the
Court. These are essential for the better investigation of the proceedings; in the exercise
of the judicial function, the search for truth and the realization of justice should, in my
opinion, always prevail over the current eagerness for “productivity” of the majority of
the Court.
28.
Therefore, I reiterate my firm disagreement with regard to the criterion of the
majority of the Court (para. 10 of the present Judgment), for not having considered it
necessary to hold a public hearing to issue the present Judgment of Interpretation, due to
lack of, in their opinion, “juridical doubt” to be resolved. What currently seems to
motivate the majority of the Court is “productivity”, a bad habit inherited from domestic
courts, who, at the end of each judicial year, proudly present productivity graphs showing
growing numbers of cases “solved” by them (or better said, simply "dealt with").
29.
In my understanding, public hearings are held not only to solve “juridical doubts”,
a flagrantly utilitarianistic point of view of the judicial function. Public hearings are held to
give the parties the opportunity to reveal to the Court their points of view, their version,
or perception of the facts, their arguments with regard to the law (even when there are
no “juridical doubts” in the mind of the judges). Within this Court, in certain cases I have
given the greatest importance (even with some resistance from the majority) to the
psychological, anthropological, and sociological expert assessments, which have
contributed to enrich so many Judgments of this Court in cases of specific complexity, of
a dense cultural content (such as the cases of Bámaca Velásquez versus Guatemala
(2000-2002), of the Moiwana Community versus Suriname (2002), among so many
others). It is for me incomprehensible that this Court, deciding against the clock, did not
consider indispensable the holding of at least one public hearing in a case of such
historical importance as was that of Goiburú et al. versus Paraguay (regarding the sinister
“Condor Operation), which could have enriched its Judgment in many aspects.
30.
An international tribunal such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights not
only “solves” doubts and cases, but also states which is the Law, it makes Justice, and
restores the dignity of victims. In order to state which is the Law, we must benefit from
other branches of human knowledge, since, to the contrary of what was arrogantly
thought by the positivists, Law is not self-sufficient and lawyers have a lot to learn from
other areas of human knowledge. In order to make Justice, the parties must be given a
chance to present all their arguments. And to restore the dignity of the victims, we must
let them express themselves freely, we must hear them attentively, even as a form of
reparation.
.
26
Cf. ibid., pages 51 and 115.
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