2
Introduction of the Case
1.
On December 22, 1995, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(hereinafter "the Commission" or "the Inter-American Commission") submitted to the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights (hereinafter "the Court" of "the Inter-American Court") an
application against the Republic of Ecuador (hereinafter "the State" or "Ecuador")
originating in a petition (No. 11.273) received at the Secretariat of the Commission on
February 24, 1994. In its application the Commission invoked Articles 50 and 51 of the
American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Convention" or "the American
Convention") and Articles 26 et seq. of the Rules of Procedure then in force. (1) The
Commission submitted this Case for the Court to rule as to whether Ecuador had violated,
to the detriment of Mr. Rafael Iván Suárez-Rosero, Articles 5 (Right to Humane Treatment),
7 (Right to Personal Liberty), 8 (Right to a Fair Trial), and 25 (Right to Judicial Protection),
all in conjunction with Article 1 (Obligation to Respect Rights) of the Convention, resulting
from
Mr. Suárez's arrest and detention in violation of a preexisting law; the failure to duly bring Mr.
Suárez before a judicial official once he was in detention; the holding of Mr. Suárez in
incommunicado detention for 36 days; the failure to respond adequately and effectively to his
attempt to invoke the domestic judicial guarantees, as well as the State's failure to release him or
show any intention of so doing, within a reasonable time, or to guarantee that he would be tried
within an equally reasonable time to substantiate the charges brought against him.
The Commission asked the Court to rule that Ecuador had violated Article 2 of the
Convention with its failure to adopt the domestic legal provisions for the enjoyment of the
aforementioned rights and that
a.
it must adopt such measures as are necessary to ensure Mr. Suárez-Rosero's
release and guarantee an exhaustive and prompt trial of his Case;
b.
it must ensure that violations such as those denounced in the instant Case do
not recur in future;
c.
it must initiate a prompt and thorough investigation in order to establish
responsibility for the violations in this Case and punish those responsible; and
d.
must make reparation to Mr. Suárez-Rosero for the consequences of the
violations committed.
2.
The Commission also asked the Court to declare
[that t]he exclusion of all persons accused under the Law on Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
from the provision that requires a prompt trial or release, introduced in Law 04, denies juridical
(1)
Rules of Procedure, approved by the Court at its XXIIIth Regular Session held on January 9 and 18, 1991;
amended on January 23, 1993; July 16, 1993; and December 2, 1995.