43
*
*
*
99.
The previous consideration lead the Court to conclude that the State is
responsible for the violation of the right to personal liberty enshrined in Article 7(1),
7(2), 7(3), 7(4), and 7(6) of the American Convention in relation to Article 1(1) of said
treaty, in detriment of Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez.
IX
VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 5(1) OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION
IN RELATION TO ARTICLE 1(1) OF THE SAME
(Right to Personal Integrity and Obligation to Respect Rights)
100.
Arguments of the Commission:
a) Respect to the physical and moral integrity of the alleged victim:
i) Mr. López Álvarez claimed he was coerced by police agents in the offices
of the Department of Criminal Investigation, through physical and mental
mistreatment so that he would incriminate himself. However, there is no
evidence that the courts of justice urged the competent employees to carry
out an investigation on the facts claimed;
ii) Mr. López Álvarez was not allowed to speak in his native language while
he was in the Criminal Center of Tela and his participation in the Committee
of Defense for the Rights of the Inmates (CODIN) was prohibited, when he
was transferred to the National Penitentiary of Támara, in Puerto Cortés,
which is a violation to the right to personal integrity;
iii) Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez was submitted to a period of preventive
detention that escapes any reasonable parameter and he was later acquitted
based on facts occurred in 1998 and that were recorded in the criminal
process followed against him. This equals the application of inhumane
treatment that affected the personal dignity and integrity of the alleged
victim and caused a serious alteration in the course his life would have
followed, and
iv) Mr. López Álvarez was subject to continuous psychological torture for
more than six years, for having been deprived of his liberty despite being
innocent.
b) Mr. Alfredo López Álvarez was imprisoned along with persons that had
already been sentenced.
101.
Arguments of the representatives:
a) Regarding the physical, mental, and moral integrity of Mr. Alfredo López
Álvarez:
i) the violations to the physical, mental, and moral integrity of Mr. López
Álvarez are a consequence of the inhumane treatment suffered at the time
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