-15for the non-pecuniary damage suffered by María Victoria Cruz Franco
increased by equal parts the amounts corresponding to her eight children,
beneficiaries of compensation for non-pecuniary damage. With regard to the
compensation established in favor of Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened bank accounts in the Banco Agrícola in
their favor and deposited the amounts established in the judgment. If the
amounts deposited in favor of Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz are not
claimed by them within ten years, the State shall proceed as established in
paragraph 210 and in the nineteenth operative paragraph of the judgment of
March 1, 2005 (supra Having seen paragraph 1); and
(d) Organization of a public act acknowledging its responsibility for the violations
declared in the judgment on merits, reparations and costs, and in reparation
to the victims and their next of kin4 (eighth operative paragraph of the
judgment of March 1, 2005). Bearing in mind the observations of the
representatives and the Commission, the Court does not find sufficient cause
to consider that the act carried out by El Salvador on March 22, 2006, did not
comply with the requirements in the judgment. In the judgment, the Court
ordered that the act should “be carried out by means of a public ceremony in
the city of Chalatenango, in the presence of senior State authorities and
members of the Serrano Cruz family,” and this was complied with, because
the State carried out the public act in the atrium of Chalatenango Cathedral;
moreover, it was presided by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is one of the
most senior State authorities, and State authorities such as the President of
the Supreme Court of Justice, Justices, Deputies of the Legislative Assembly,
the Ombudsman, the Attorney General, the departmental Governor, and
Ministers attended the event. Some of the siblings of Erlinda and Ernestina
Serrano Cruz were also present. In addition, the act was covered by the
media, and articles were published on Internet. However, the Court ordered
the State to conduct an act “acknowledging its responsibility for the violations
declared in the judgment on merits, reparations and costs, and in reparation
to the victims.” In this regard, the Court notes that the act organized by the
State was not devoted exclusively to the case of the Serrano Cruz sisters, as
would have been most desirable, but a major part of the act was devoted to
presenting “the first case resolved by the Inter-institutional Commission to
trace children who disappeared as a result of the armed conflict El Salvador.”
Nevertheless, the Court has verified that, during his address, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs referred to the case of the Serrano Cruz sisters and considers
that the words of this authority, in representation of the State, to the effect
that “he regretted the events concerning Erlinda and Ernestina Serrano Cruz,
which were determined in the judgment and stood by them and their family
in the terms of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its judgment of
March 1, 2005,” can be interpreted as a form of “acknowledgment of
responsibility in relation to the violations declared in the judgment, and in
reparation to the victims and their next of kin.” The Minister also stated, inter
alia, that he “regretted profoundly all the events that occurred during the
armed conflict that reigned in El Salvador for more than 12 years which
directly affected each and every Salvadoran family, and particularly the
4
Regarding the requirements for this act, the Court ordered that: “it should be carried out by
means of a public ceremony in the city of Chalatenango, in the presence of senior State authorities and
members of the Serrano Cruz family”; “[t]he State shall provide the necessary means to facilitate the
presence of these persons in the said act”; and “the State shall disseminate this act through the media,
and on the Internet.”
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