June 26, 2003, June 3, 2003, July 9, 2003 and January 23, 2003, at
which time the Chilean State was bound by the obligation to respect and
guarantee the rights enshrined in the American Convention.
25.
The Commission has jurisdiction ratione loci inasmuch as
the alleged violations took place within the territory of a State party to
the American Convention.
B.
Other requirements of admissibility
1.
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
26.
As a requirement for admissibility, Article 46(1) of the
American Convention requires that the remedies under domestic law
have been pursued and exhausted. The petitioner argues that he has
pursued and exhausted the domestic remedies available under Chilean
legislation. He claims that, through judgments handed down on June 26,
2003, June 3, 2003, July 9, 2003 and January 23, 2003, domestic
remedies were exhausted. For its part, the State did not deny or contest
the petitioner's assertion. Consequently, the Commission considers that
the requirement of Article 46(1) of the American Convention is fulfilled.
As well, the petitioner cites three judgments of the Civil Chamber of the
Supreme Court of Chile issued during 2002-2003 (supra, paragraph 11),
the last of them on April 15, 2003, in which the Supreme Court rejected
three appeals for cassation denying reparations, to demonstrate the
constant practice of the Supreme Court in denying this remedy.
27.
In response to the petition, the State submitted no
observations regarding the failure to exhaust domestic remedies. The
Inter-American Court of Human Rights has repeatedly held that in order
to be timely, the objection that domestic remedies have not been
exhausted should be raised during the first stages of the proceeding;
otherwise, it will be presumed that the respondent State tacitly has
waived this defense.
28.
The Commission therefore considers that the Chilean State
waived the objection of failure to exhaust domestic remedies, because it
did not present this objection at the first procedural opportunity, i.e. in
its response to the petition that initiated the proceedings. Consequently,
the Commission considers that the requirement of Article 46(1)(a) of the
American Convention is fulfilled.
2.
Timeliness of the petition
10
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