108
302. The Court notices that the State did not differentiate between pecuniary
and non-pecuniary damage in regard to the compensation derived from Law No.
9.140/95. Notwithstanding the abovementioned, the Court notes that the State
did in fact pay compensation to the next of kin of 58 victims of enforced
disappearance in the present case. In regard to Mr. Francisco Manoel Chaves and
Mr. Pedro Matias de Oliveira (“Pedro Carretel”), no family members came forward
to request recognition or compensation before the Special Commission
established by Law No. 9.140/95.397 In regard to the next of kin of Mr. Hélio Luiz
Navarro de Magalhães and Mr. Pedro Alexandrino de Oliveira Filho, the Court
notes that although their mothers required information on them from the Special
Commission, they did not wish to request compensation.398
303. The Court considers, as it has done in other cases,399 that of the national
mechanisms that exist to determine forms of reparation, these procedures should
be evaluated and encouraged. If these mechanisms do not satisfy standards of
objectivity, reasonability, and effectiveness to properly repair the human rights
violations declared by this Court, recognized in the Convention, the Court, in the
exercise of its subsidiary and complimentary competence, should order the
appropriate reparations. In this sense, it has been established that the next of kin
of the disappeared victims had access to an administrative process, which
determined compensation “of reparative purposes” for the enforced
disappearances and deaths of the direct victims.400 The Court positively values
the actions of the State in this sense and deems that the sums established by
Law No. 9.140/95 and paid to the next of kin of the victims “for reparative
purposes,” are reasonable in terms of its jurisprudence and assumes that this
compensation includes both the pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages to the
disappeared victims. On the other hand, in the cases where compensation has
not been claimed by the next of kin of Mr. Francisco Manoel Chaves, Mr. Pedro
Matias de Oliveira (“Pedro Carretel”), Mr. Hélio Luiz Navarro de Magalhães, and
Mr. Pedro Alexandrino de Oliveira Filho, the Court requires the State to establish
the possibility that in a period of six months as of the notification of the present
Judgment, those interested, may present a request, if they so wish, for
compensation using the criteria and mechanisms established in domestic law by
Law No. 9.140/95.
304. On the other hand, in regard to medical and other expenses related to the
search for their next of kin indicated by the representatives, the Court notes that
receipts were not provided for these alleged expenses, neither was noted the
particular harm suffered by each family member that would found such request,
nor were each of the activities in which they participated or the costs incurred
individualized. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, the Court assumes that the
next of kin of the victims incurred, since December 10, 1998, to date, among
others, expenses related to medical services and care and those related to the
search for information and the bodily remains of the disappeared victims to the
present date. Based on the foregoing, the Court determines, in equity, the
payment of US$ 3.000 (three thousand dollars of the United States of America) in
397
Cf. Right to Memory and Truth, supra note 67, folios 792, 793, 840, and 841.
398
Cf. Compensation paid to the next of kin of the disappeared persons of the Guerrilha do
Araguaia, supra note 93, folios 9112 and 9114, and Right to Memory and Truth, supra note 67, folios
822, 823, 841, and 842.
399
Cf. Case of Manuel Cepeda Vargas, supra note 18, para. 246.
400
Law No. 9.140/95, supra note 87, Article 11.
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