63
State shall pay this amount directly to the beneficiaries within the term of one year
as from notice of this Judgment.
2.2.
Non-pecuniary damages
237. As in prior cases, the Court will now determine reparations for non-pecuniary
damages.250
238. The Commission considered it “relevant to redress the consequences of the
removal from office suffered by the victims” and highlighted “the importance that
establishing the truth of the facts regarding their removal has for [them].” It further
stated that it must be taken into consideration that “as a result of the decision of the
CORJS the victims have been prevented from exercising judicial functions in the
future.”
239. The representative alleged that the victims had to “endure for months a
systematic campaign of intimidating actions, such as the detention of Alfredo Romero
and the search of the seat of the First Court, as well as all types of verbal
aggressions,” and that many of those attacks “were launched by the President of the
Republic through radio and television speeches, in which he called them ‘oligarchs,’
‘corrupt,’ ‘bandits,’ ‘coup-plotters,’ etc.” According to the representative, the social
and family life of the victims “was seriously affected, as a result of the stigma of
having been removed from office for allegedly being corrupt and unsuitable for their
positions.” The three victims endured great suffering as “their professional careers
were unfairly curtailed” and “despite their devotion to the Judiciary, they had been
disgracefully removed from their positions and were no longer able to have their
candidacies considered to sit on the [STJ].” The representative further considered
that the damage suffered by the victims “seriously affected their professional and
academic reputation” and “impaired their self-esteem and their family relationships”
as “it went into the public domain.” The representative requested as non-pecuniary
damages for each of the victims the amount of US $ 100,000.00 (one hundred
thousand United States dollars) or its equivalent amount in national currency.
240. The State considered that it had not been proven that “the victims had to live
for months with the stigma of enduring verbal aggression,” nor that “the
representatives were victims of labor or social discrimination regarding their
academic or personal activities,” since they did not prove “that the university or
teaching institutions where they work had imposed sanctions on them as a
consequence of the removal from their positions as temporary judges of the First
Court.”
250
“[N]on-pecuniary damages may comprise both the pain and suffering caused to the direct victim
and to his next of kin, the impairment of values that are significant to persons, as well as the nonpecuniary damages caused by the modification of the living conditions of the victim and his next of kin. As
it is not possible to assess an accurate amount to measure such damage, in order to provide for integral
reparation to the victims, said damages could only be compensated in two ways […] with the payment of
amounts of money or the delivery of goods or services susceptible of having a pecuniary value, which the
Court may determine […] in terms of equity, as well as by means of acts or works which may have a
public impact, […] such as a commitment to avoid such violations in the future, in an attempt to repair the
reputation of the victims, the acknowledgment of the victims’ dignity or the relief of their next of kin,” Cf.
Case of Neira Alegría v. Peru. Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 19, 1996. Series C No. 29,
para. 57; Case of Zambrano Vélez et al., supra note 18, para. 141, and Case of Cantoral Huamaní and
García Santa Cruz, supra note 12, para. 175.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents