REPORT Nº 50/08 1 PETITION 298-07 ADMISSIBILITY NESTOR JOSE UZCATEGUI ET AL. VENEZUELA July 24, 2008 I. SUMMARY 1. On March 14, 2007, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the "Inter-American Commission”, the "Commission" or “the IACHR”) received a petition from the Committee of Relatives of the Victims of the Events of February-March 1989 (COFAVIC), the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), and Mr. Carlos Ayala Corao (hereinafter "the petitioners"), in which they allege that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter “Venezuela,” “the State” or “the Venezuelan State”) violated the rights enshrined in Articles 4 (life), 5 (humane treatment), 7 (personal liberty), 8 (judicial guarantees), and 25 (judicial protection), to the detriment of Néstor José Uzcátegui; of the rights enshrined in Articles 5 (humane treatment), 8 (judicial guarantees), and 25 (judicial protection), to the detriment of the relatives of Nestor José Uzcátegui; and of the rights enshrined in Articles 5 (humane treatment) and 7 (personal liberty), to the detriment of Luís Uzcátegui and Carlos Eduardo Uzcátegui, all pursuant to Article 1.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the "Convention" or the "American Convention"). 2. The petitioners indicated that on January 1, 2001, the youth Néstor José Uzcátegui was extrajudicially executed by police officials from Falcón State when he was defenseless and offered no resistance. According to the petitioners, the officials forcefully entered his residence, shot him in front of other members of the family, and savagely beat his brothers Luís Uzcátegui and Carlos Eduardo Uzcátegui, then a minor, who were detained without a court order until the following day. Additionally, they indicate that Mr. Luís Uzcátegui –who is a beneficiary of precautionary measures– has been the victim of a series of violations since the same day of the death of his brother, including illegal and arbitrary detentions, torture, physical maltreatment, death threats, illegal searches of his residence, and even the processing of criminal charges for aggravated libel, all as a consequence of his activity in the search for justice. The petitioners added that the investigations related to the death of Néstor José, as well as the alleged acts of aggression, threats, and harassment against Luís Uzcátegui, have been in the investigative stage since January 2, 2001, and December 12, 2002, respectively, without any one being charged to date and without the competent authorities having diligently encouraged the investigations. With respect to compliance with the petition’s admissibility requirements, the petitioners indicated that the exception of Article 46.2.c of the American Convention is applicable since there has been an unjustified delay in theinvestigations. 3. At the date this report was approved, the Venezuelan State had not responded to this petition. 4. After examining the information available in light of the admissibility requirements established in Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, the Commissionconcluded that it is competent to hear the complaint and that the petition is admissible for the alleged violation of the rights enshrined in Articles 4, 5, 7, 8, and 25 of the American Convention, in connection with the obligations established in Article 1.1 of the same Convention, to the detriment of persons described in the section on the nature of the alleged violations, infra paragraphs 60 – 63. Additionally, based on the iura novit curia principle, the IACHR concluded that the described facts may also constitute violations of the rights enshrined in Articles 11, 13, and 19 of the American Convention, as well as of the obligation established in Article 2 of the same 1 In accordance with Article 17.2 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure, the Commissioner Luz Patricia Mejía, a Venezuelan national, did not participate in the discussion or in the decision adopted of this case. 1