3
5.
According to the provision established in Article 63(2) of the Convention, provisional
measures ordered by this Tribunal are binding on the State in conformity to a basic
principle of the law of international responsibility of the States, as supported by
international case law, under which States are required to comply with international treaty
obligations in good faith (pacta sunt servanda).3
6.
It has been more than four years since the adoption of the provisional measures in
favor of the original beneficiaries and more than two years since the issuance of the last
Order. Since then, the Court has received new information and Peru has repeatedly
requested the rescission of these measures. Based on the foregoing, the Tribunal deems
appropriate to analyze the situation of the beneficiaries and the status of compliance with
the provisional measures ordered in this matter.
*
*
*
7.
The provisional measures in the instant matter were ordered as a result of a series
of threats issued against the life of Mr. Ramírez Hinostroza due to his declaration as victim
and witness of alleged tortures committed against him and against other people. On
March 10, 2004, the Huancayo Fourth Criminal Court instituted a legal proceeding against
the Peruvian retired Army General, Luis Pérez-Documet, “as Chief of the Military Political
Command of Huancayo by the time of the events, for the crimes of abduction and causing
bodily harm.”4 Mr. Ramírez Hinostroza ratified his testimony before said court and “as a
result of that, on March 13, 2004, while he was entering his house at night, he was
intercepted by four armed men", though he managed to escape while his pursuers were
shooting at him. On May 3, 2004, while he was signing the record of the visual inspection
conducted at the ‘December 9' army barracks, “a military officer, who was not
participating of said procedure, took a photograph of Mr. Ramírez Hinostroza.” On July 6,
2004 Mr. Ramirez Hinostroza “received, at his home address, an envelope containing an
anonymous note and three photographs” of his wife and daughters.
8.
Before this situation, on August 2, 2004, the Commission adopted precautionary
measures in favor of Luis Alberto Ramirez Hinostroza and his family, which were later on
expanded to protect his legal representatives. After the adoption of the precautionary
measures, Mr. Ramirez Hinostroza would have been a victim, among other facts, of
threats against his life. The first incident occurred on August 30, 2004, when, close to his
home, he was intercepted by a vehicle “from which two men started to fire shots at him”,
and he received a gunshot wound to the stomach. Later on, on June 1, 2005, shots were
fired at him from a moving car as he was leaving the office of the Legal Defense Institute
[Instituto de Defensa Legal], located in Lima. A third attack occurred on September 15,
2005, after the adoption of the provisional measures ordered by this Tribunal when, on his
way home, “two strangers shot at Mr. Ramirez Hinostroza from a motorcycle.”
*
3
Cf. Matter of James et al. Provisional Measures regarding Trinidad and Tobago. Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of June 14, 1998; Considering Clause six; Matter of the Communities of
Jiguamiandó and Curbaradó. Provisional Measures Regarding Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights of November 17, 2009; considering clause four and Matter of Guerrero Larez, supra note 2,
considering clause five.
4
Cf. Matter of Ramírez Hinostroza et al. Provisional Measures regarding the Republic of Peru. Order of the
President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 22, 2005, Having Seen clause 2 c) and d).