338. The decisions that denied the request for review did not cite any legitimate purpose to
maintain the pre-trial detention, so that the situation indicated in the preceding paragraphs
remained unchanged.
339. Consequently, the Court finds that the judges failed to justify the decision to impose or
maintain the pre-trial detention based on a legitimate purpose such as the existence of a
procedural risk in the specific case.
c)
Inadequate periodic review
340. The judicial decisions denying the requests for review did not comply adequately with
the function of analyzing whether it was pertinent to maintain the detention measures. The
statements that “there is no new information to review” and that “there is no information that
would allow it to be presumed that the circumstances have changed that made pre-trial
detention advisable,” reveal an erroneous notion based on considering that it would be
necessary to prove that the initial circumstances had changed, instead of understanding that it
is the judge’s task to analyze whether circumstances subsist that mean that the pre-trial
detention should be maintained and is a proportionate measure to achieve the procedural
objective sought. The judicial decisions ignored the need to justify and to provide the reasons
for maintaining the precautionary measure imposed, and failed to mention any procedural
objective that would have required maintaining it. Moreover, in one case, the decision to
maintain the pre-trial detention was adopted without any justification.
341. With regard to the judicial decision of June 23, 2003, that maintained the pre-trial
detention of Jaime Marileo Saravia, Juan Ciriaco Millacheo Licán, Juan Patricio Marileo and
Patricia Troncoso Robles, it did not contain an explanation of the information to which it refers
that “does not change the circumstances that made the pre-trial detention advisable,” and
disregarded the fact that the review of the pre-trial detention imposed entailed justifying and
providing the reasons for the need to maintain it. This was particularly serious in the instant
case, because the initial adoption of the precautionary measure did not comply with any of the
treaty-based requirements (supra paras. 334, 335 and 337). Furthermore, when maintaining
the measure, the court did not explain which procedural objectives it was referring to and why
there was no other precautionary measure that “permitted ensuring the objectives of the
proceedings.” In this regard, article 155 of the Criminal Procedural Code, to which the defense
referred, established another seven personal precautionary measures that could be imposed
either separately or together, among other matters, “to ensure the success of the investigation”
and “to ensure the appearance of the accused at the different stages of the proceedings or for
the execution of judgment,” which, it would seem, were not considered by the judicial
authority.
d)
Presumption of innocence
342. In view of the fact that their criminal responsibility had not yet been established legally,
the presumed victims had the right to be presumed innocent, pursuant to Article 8(2) of the
American Convention. This gave rise to the State’s obligation not to restrict their freedom more
than strictly necessary, because pre-trial detention is a precautionary rather than a punitive
measure. Consequently, the State restricted the freedom of Juan Patricio Marileo Saravia, José
Benicio Huenchunao Mariñán, Florencio Jaime Marileo Saravia, Juan Ciriaco Millacheo Licán and
Patricia Roxana Troncoso Robles without respecting the right to the presumption of innocence
and violated their right not to be subject to arbitrary imprisonment established in Article 7(3) of
the Convention.
***
343. Based on the above, it must be concluded that the State violated the rights to personal
liberty, not to be subject to arbitrary arrest, and not to suffer pre-trial detention in conditions
that were not adapted to international standards, established in Article 7(1), 7(3) and 7(5) of
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