2
of García Prieto (hereinafter, Carmen Alicia Estrada or “Ms. Estrada”), as well as by
the Human Rights Institute of the Central American University “José Simeón Cañas”
(“Instituto de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Centroamericana ‘José Simeón
Cañas’”, (hereinafter “IDHUCA”) and the Center for Justice and International Law
(hereinafter, “CEJIL”). On March 9, 1999, the Commission issued its Report on
Admissibility, No. 27/99, and on October 24, 2005, the Commission issued its Report
on Merits, No. 94/05, in accordance with Article 50 of the Convention.1 The
Commission’s Report on Merits contained several recommendations, which the
Commission found were not satisfactorily adopted by the State. As a result, the
Commission decided to submit the case to the Court’s jurisdiction.2
2.
With respect to the facts of the case, the Commission indicated that on June
10, 1994, Mr. Ramón Mauricio García Prieto was outside the house of some relatives
when he was stopped by two individuals with firearms who threatened his life. Later,
he was murdered, although the Commission stressed that this act lay outside the
jurisdiction of the Court. The Commission added that following the death of Mr.
García Prieto the state authorities undertook criminal investigations in order to
identify, judge, and possibly punish those responsible. To this end, the criminal
proceedings (No. 262/94) were developed before the Fifteenth Court of Peace of San
Salvador (infra note 38), which were brought to a close on October 7, 1996 with the
sentencing of Raúl Argueta Rivas to twenty-six years of prison for the murder of Mr.
García Prieto. On August 28, 1997, new proceedings (No. 110/98) were opened
before the Thirteenth Court of Peace (infra note 42), in order to continue the
investigation and determine the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. García Prieto.
These proceedings concluded on June 7, 2001 with the sentencing of Julio Ismael
Ortiz Días to thirty years in prison. Finally, the parents of Mr. García Prieto lodged a
complaint before the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic of El Salvador on
June 6, 2003, in which they requested that the investigation into the homicide of
their son continue. This final investigation has not yet been closed.
3.
In addition, the Commission indicated that Mr. José Mauricio García Prieto
Hirlemann, Ms. Gloria Giralt de García Prieto and Ms. Carmen Alicia Estrada had been
the object of threatening acts and harassment.
In response, the Salvadoran
authorities took investigative steps in criminal proceeding 110/98. However, by way
of a document of August 15, 2000, the Trial Court ordered that the investigation not
be continued. Later, on November 15, 2001, prosecutor’s investigation number
4799-UDV-2001 was opened, which still has not been closed.
4.
In its application, the Commission alleged that the State was responsible for
"the acts and omissions in the investigation of the homicide of Ramón Mauricio
1
In its Report on Merits No. 94/05, the Commission concluded, inter alia, that the State violated
the right enshrined in Article 4 of the American Convention to the detriment of Ramón Mauricio García
Prieto, as well as the rights enshrined in Articles 5, 8, and 25 of the Convention to the detriment of José
Mauricio García Prieto Hirlemann, Gloria Giralt de García Prieto and Carmen Alicia Estrada. All these rights
were alleged to have been violated in conjunction with Article 1(1) of the Convention.
2
The Commission originally designated Executive Secretary Santiago A. Canton and Commissioner
Clare Kamau Roberts as delegates, and designated Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Marisol Blanchard Vera,
Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez, Víctor H. Madrigal Borloz and Nelson Camilo Sánchez León, specialists of the
Executive Secretary, as legal advisors. On November 16, 2006, the Commission communicated to the
Secretariat that it had designated Executive Secretary Santiago A. Canton, Commissioner Evelio
Fernández Arévalo and Commissioner Freddy Gutiérrez Trejo as delegates. On January 12, 2007, the
Commission communicated to the Secretariat that it had designated Commissioner Freddy Gutiérrez Trejo
as delegate and that it had designated Marisol Blanchard, Lilly Ching and Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez as legal
advisors.
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