fugitives were recaptured and seven of them “died due to circumstances that occurred during
the operation”; (c) that the State carried out other investigations and issued judgments, in
which it convicted state officials for the extrajudicial execution of a person who had escaped
from that prison, as well as other people who had escaped from the Pavón and Infiernito
prisons that occurred between 2005 and 2006; (d) that the International Commission against
Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional contra la Impunidad en Guatemala,
hereinafter also “CICIG”) ruled on the interference of the authorities in the actions carried out
for the extrajudicial execution of fugitives and the existence of a parallel structure to execute
those who they considered "degenerates and enemies of society", and (e) the Special
Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions (hereinafter "Special
Rapporteur") in their report on their visit to Guatemala, reported the existence of groups
dedicated to cleansing in the National Civil Police. Furthermore, in relation to the legal reform
to include the death penalty for kidnapping cases alleged by the representatives, the
Commission indicated that, despite the fact that the State has neither imposed nor applied
the death penalty and the Criminal Chamber of The Supreme Court of Justice has been
commuting it in recent years, the death penalty continues to be prescribed for the crime of
kidnapping.
46.
Consequently, the Court will consider those supplementary facts argued by the
representatives that were taken into account by the Commission related to the context of the
death of Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila and “Operation Gavilán” (infra paras. 89 to 95) and it
will discard those facts that are not related to the factual framework contemplated in the Merits
Report of the Commission (supra para. 43).
B. Regarding the determination of the alleged victims and possible beneficiaries of
the reparation measures, and the lack of documentation on the link that accredits
the inheritance of his mother, wife and partner
B.1. Arguments of the State and observations of the Commission and the
representatives
47.
The State argued that there is a violation of the principle of legal certainty due to the
lack of determination of the list of alleged victims. It requested that the Court establish
precisely that the only victim is Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila. Furthermore, the State argued
that in accordance with article 1078 of the Civil Code of the State of Guatemala, in intestate
successions, the children and the surviving spouse who have the right to "gain" are named
first and will inherit in equal parts. It argued that the only ones entitled to succeed the alleged
victim would be his sons Jorge, Luis and Tirso Valenzuela Ruíz, given that no document was
presented to prove the status of his spouse, nor that of his cohabitant. Nor was it proven that
Florinda López de López is Mr. Valenzuela's mother.
48.
The Commission named Mr. Valenzuela Ávila as the alleged victim and mentioned his
next of kin in the Merits Report without identifying them individually. In its brief with
observations on the preliminary objections filed by the State, the Commission highlighted that
“it did not know the names of the next of kin of the [alleged] victim” and that “complex
circumstances concurred that made it difficult to include the names of the next of kin of Tirso
Román Valenzuela Ávila,” for which reason it argued that the exception contained in Article
35(2) of the Rules of Procedure could be applied, without prejudice “to the reparations that
correspond to the next of kin of Valenzuela Ávila as legitimate heirs.” The Commission did not
refer to the State's allegations regarding legitimate heirs in intestate successions and only
indicated that this cannot be considered a preliminary objection.
13