- 11 summary, the payment of compensatory damages, as well as the aforementioned
obligation to respect the guarantees of due process in the criminal proceedings opened
against Ms. J., taking into account the violations declared in the judgment.15
C. The criteria and methodology for determining the amounts set as costs
and expenses
Arguments of the Commission and the parties
32. The State affirmed that "it is not questioning the amounts or the term set for
their payment." However, it asked the Court “to specify the criteria and the
methodology used to determine the amounts established as expenses and costs, to the
extent that the information provided by the Court in said paragraph and in the
footnotes does not provide clarity on the matter.” According to the State, “the manner
in which [the costs and expenses] are calculated constitutes an issue of special
importance in the context of the proceedings before the Commission and the Court[,
for which] it considers it important that in the rulings of the latter, there may be clear
and uniform criteria in this regard.”
33. The Commission indicated that it had no observations to make regarding this
request for interpretation by the State, while the representative did not refer to said
request in its brief.
Considerations of the Court
34. The Court indicates that the determination of the expenses of the representative
and the award of costs and expenses were made at the time of delivering the
judgment based on the evidence provided to the process, in light of the provisions of
the American Convention and the principles on which it is based. In particular, in
paragraphs 418 to 423 of its judgment, this Court established that:
418. As the Court has indicated on previous occasions, costs and expenses are included in the
concept of reparation established in Article 63(1) of the American Convention. Costs and
expenses are part of the concept of reparation, because the actions taken by the victims in order
to obtain justice at both the domestic and the international level, entail disbursements that must
be compensated when the State’s international responsibility has been declared in a guilty
verdict.
[…]
421. The Court recalls that, in the instant case, the representative’s claims are admissible as
regards the costs and expenses produced following the presentation of the motions and
arguments brief (supra para. 33). The Court has indicated that the claims for costs and
expenses of the victims or their representatives, and evidence that supports them, must be
submitted to the Court at the first procedural moment granted them; that is, in the motions and
arguments brief, without prejudice to the possibility of updating those claims subsequently, in
keeping with the new costs and expenses incurred during the proceedings before this Court. In
addition, the Court reiterates that it is not sufficient to merely forward probative documents;
rather the parties must also include arguments that relate the evidence to the fact that it is
considered to represent and that, in the case of alleged financial disbursements, the items and
their justification must be clearly established.
422. The Court notes that the expenses of the representative, incurred after the presentation of
the motions and arguments brief, for which evidence was provided, amount to approximately
US$237,880.14. Nevertheless, some vouchers refer to expenses covered by resources from the
15
417.
Cf. Case of J. v. Peru Preliminary Exception, Fund, Repairs and Costs, supra, paras. 394, 398, 413, and