I
REQUEST FOR INTERPRETATION AND PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT
1.
On November 3, 2021, the Inter-American Court delivered the judgment in this case, which
was notified to the parties and to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter
“the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) on December 21 that year.
2.
On March 16, 2022, the State of Guatemala submitted to the Court a request for
interpretation regarding the determination of victims made in the judgment. Also, on March 21,
2022, the representatives 1 submitted to the Court a request for interpretation regarding: (i) the
measure concerning safe return for those displaced persons who so wished, and (ii) the measures
of compensation.
3.
On March 22, 2022, pursuant to Article 68(2) of the Court’s Rules of Procedure and on the
instructions of the President of the Court, the Court’s Secretariat forwarded the said
communications to the parties and to the Inter-American Commission and granted them until
April 21, 2022, to present any written observations they deemed pertinent.
4.
On April 18, 2022, the State presented its observations on the request for interpretation
filed by the representatives. On April 21, 2022, the representatives presented their written
observations on the request for interpretation filed by the State and, on the same, date, the
Commission presented its written observations on the requests for interpretation presented by
the State and by the representatives.
II
JURISDICTION
5.
Article 67 of the Convention establishes:
The judgment of the Court shall be final and not subject to appeal. In case of disagreement as to
the meaning or scope of the judgment, the Court shall interpret it at the request of any of the
parties, provided the request is made within ninety days from the date of notification of the
judgment.
6.
According to this article, the Court is competent to interpret its judgments. Moreover,
based on Article 68(3) of the Rules of Procedure, when examining a request for interpretation and
taking the corresponding decisions, the Court should, whenever possible, be composed of the
same judges as when it delivered the respective judgment. On this occasion, the Court is
composed of most of the judges who delivered the judgment whose interpretation has been
requested.
III
ADMISSIBILITY
7.
The Court must verify whether the requests presented by the State and the
representatives meet the requirements established in the rules applicable to a request for
interpretation of judgment: namely, the aforementioned Articles 67 of the Convention and 68 of
the Rules of Procedure. In addition, Article 31(3) of the Rules of Procedure establishes that
“[j]udgments and orders of the Court may not be contested in any way.”
1
The organisations representing the victims are the Asociación Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de
Guatemala (FAMDEGUA) and the Center for Justice and International law (CEJIL).
2