59
jurisdiction and, like the authorities of that jurisdiction, settled for the answer received from
the authorities regarding the inexistence of records or information relating to operations or
restriction to the liberty of the then children, without requesting an explanation about the
mechanisms used by the authorities to reach that conclusion. Furthermore, in the case of
the Mejía Ramírez sisters, the individuals indicated by the appellant were not notified,
because they had “retired from military service” and the Commanding Officer of the Atlacatl
Battalion had been demobilized.
163. The Court assesses that the habeas corpus proceedings that were processed and
decided could have elucidated that a situation harmful to the personal liberty of the victims
had been constituted, because they “recognized the constitutional violation of the right to
physical liberty [of the said persons].” However, the proceedings were ineffective to discover
the whereabouts of Ana Julia Mejía Ramírez, Carmelina Mejía Ramírez, Gregoria Herminia
Contreras, Julia Inés Contreras, Serapio Cristian Contreras and José Rubén Rivera Rivera
because the corresponding procedural measures were not carried out diligently, taking into
account the broad powers of the executing judge and the obligation of the State authorities
to provide the information requested; hence, the protection required by means of those
measures was illusory. Consequently, in application of the iuria novit curia principle, the
Court finds that the State violated Article 7(6) of the American Convention to the detriment
of the Mejía Ramírez, Contreras and Rivera children and of their next of kin.
164. The representatives also alleged the violation of Article 25(2) of the Convention,263 in
the cases of José Rubén Rivera and the Mejía Ramírez sisters, because the State did “not
take any measure to implement the judgments of the Supreme Court of Justice, as regards
the opening of an investigation.” They also indicated that, in none of the cases, “the
Constitutional Chamber had used its powers of investigation satisfactorily.” In addition, even
though that chamber had ordered the Prosecutor to initiate an investigation, the order was
carried out only in the Contreras case, five years after it had been issued. The Court
observes that, when the habeas corpus writs were issued, two judicial investigations and an
investigation by the Public Prosecution Service had already been opened into the
disappearance of José Rubén Rivera, the Contreras siblings, and the Mejía Ramírez sisters,
respectively, so that, over and above opening a new investigation, it was the responsibility
of the Prosecutor General’s Office to seriously, exhaustively and diligently pursue the
investigations opened; the analysis of this is subsumed in the previous section.
E. Access to information contained in military archives
165. The Commission indicated that, on several occasions during the investigations into
the three cases, military institutions had been asked to provide information on the
operations and the participants, without receiving an answer, or an incomplete response, or
“they insist that the information does not exist,” and the authorities in charge of the
investigation do not have other means to obtain the information, such as “inspecting military
facilities or archives of the Ministry of Defense.” Consequently, the Commission asked that
the State be ordered to make all institutional, legal, administrative and other efforts to
remove the obstacles impeding access to the information recorded in military archives.
263
Article 25(2) of the Convention stipulates: “[t]he States Parties undertake:
a)
to ensure that any person claiming such remedy shall have his rights determined by the competent
authority provided for by the legal system of the state;
b)
to develop the possibilities of judicial remedy; and
c)
to ensure that the competent authorities shall enforce such remedies when granted.
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