CONCURRING OPINION OF
JUDGE MONTIEL-ARGÜELLO
I have concurred in approving the above Order, although I feel obliged to furnish
some explanations.
It is my view that the request of the Commission and the victims' representatives was
blatantly inadmissible as the sole recourse permitted by the Convention against Judgments
of the Inter-American Court is that of interpretation; the request does not seek an
interpretation of the Judgment of September 14, 1996, since it expresses no disagreement
as to the meaning or scope of the Judgment as required by Article 67 of the Convention.
Indeed, that Judgment states that it is improper to make any pronouncement on the
Code of Military Justice of Venezuela, on the ground that it was not applied in this specific
case, whereas the request maintains that it has been applied and in so doing challenges the
decision.
Inasmuch as, under Article 67 of the Convention, the Judgment of the Court are final
and not subject to appeal, the conclusion must be that the aforementioned request is, as I
said earlier, blatantly inadmissible.
The fact that the Court in its Order has agreed to demonstrate, as it does in fact, that
its Judgment was correct in stating that the Law of Military Justice of Venezuela had not
been applied in the Case in question, does not mean that it accepts the admissibility of the
request.
In view of the above, I would have preferred the inadmissibility of the request to be
stated in the operative part. However, I voted in favor of the decision adopted because it has
the same effect as a declaration of inadmissibility.
Alejandro Montiel-Argüello
Judge
Manuel E. Ventura-Robles
Secretary