35. If persons in a situation similar to that of Mr. Garcia, but living in Chile, had succeeded in obtaining substantial reparations through the courts, it would have been reasonable to demand that Mr. Garcia exhaust judicial remedies in Chile as well. Moreover it is evident, given his straightened circumstances, that Mr. Garcia has tried to exhaust all possibilities within his reach to secure reparations for the injuries suffered, and that he did manage to obtain a pension granted to politically exonerated persons. 36. Finally, the Commission has jurisdiction ratione materiae because the petition complains of possible violations of human rights protected under the American Convention that, if proven, could constitute violations of Articles 1(1) 2, 8 and 25 of the Convention. B. Requirements of admissibility 1. Exhaustion of domestic remedies 37. As a requirement for admissibility, Article 46(1) of the American Convention requires that the remedies under domestic law have been pursued and exhausted. The petitioners argue that the application of Decree Law 2191 be prevented Mr. Garcia from exhausting domestic remedies (supra, paragraph 20). As well, the consequences of application of the amnesty law in practice meant that, in Mr. Garcia's case, the Chilean justice system would not identify and punish the persons who committed the alleged violations. Moreover, that same law prevented the filing of any lawsuits for civil reparations to compensate for the damage suffered. 38. The petitioners point out that, under Chilean law, the possibility of initiating a civil action does not necessarily depend on the results of the criminal proceedings. Nonetheless, the civil claim must be lodged against a specific person in order to establish that person’s responsibility for the acts and to determine the payment of compensation. 8 The unanimous jurisprudence of the Chilean courts holds that civil actions may only proceed once the corpus delicti has been produced and the guilty party against whom such action is to be taken has been determined. 9 39. The petitioners emphasize that domestic Chilean legislation contains no effective legal remedies for obtaining compensation for torture victims. In the Chilean Civil Code there are no specific provisions on reparation for torture victims. The only way a victim can obtain compensation is through the provisions in Section XXXV, Book IV, regarding monetary obligations as a consequence of torts. These provisions do not afford remedies for torture victims because they treat torture as a simple tort and allow no claims against the State. 40. Art 254(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure makes it mandatory that a civil suit must contain the name, address and profession or office of the individual against whom the suit is brought. Clearly, this provision is inadequate for cases involving grave human rights violations (especially if systematic and widespread), but when the violations are acts of torture, these requirements are particularly unreasonable since identifying the perpetrator is almost impossible in the majority of the cases. Moreover, Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that civil action may be taken against the responsible party himself and against his heirs; the courts have interpreted this provision, together with Article 254 (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure, as limiting the scope of civil suits to identifiable individuals, thereby preventing claims against the State itself. 41. The Chilean Supreme Court has applied the statute of limitations (prescripción) to dismiss claims for compensation for mental suffering caused by executions committed by State agents during the military 8 IACHR, Report 61/01. Case No. 11.771 Samuel Alfonso Catalan Lincoleo (Chile), April 16, 2001, footnote 13. 9 IACHR, Report 36/96, Case No. 10.843 Garay Hermosilla, (Chile), October 15, 1996, para 9, 8