-129- B) PECUNIARY DAMAGE Arguments of the Commission 243. The Commission requested the Court to establish, in equity, the amount of the compensation corresponding to indirect damage and loss of earnings. In this regard, it stated that the alleged victims’ next of kin suffered multiple consequences owing to the loss of their sons, brothers, companions and fathers, who, in many case, supported the household financially. Moreover, the surviving next of kin became victims of displacement, persecution and fear. They also had to absorb financial losses and ceased receiving their usual income that was necessary for their survival. 244. Arguments of the representatives (a) Regarding indirect damage, they requested the Court to order the State to pay compensation in favor of the next of kin of the alleged victims for the pecuniary damage suffered owing to the latter’s detention, disappearance, torture and subsequent execution, because: i. The next of kin took numerous measures to find the alleged victims and these measures involved transportation costs; ii. The next of kin have taken many measures before different judicial and non-judicial authorities, to try and clarify the facts and recover their loved ones, and iii. The next of kin of the six alleged victims whose bodies were found, also incurred burial expenses. (b) Regarding loss of earnings, they stated that: i. The alleged victims were peasants who cultivated the land and carried out other small-scale agricultural activities. Consequently, they did not keep rigorous accounting records in relation to the tax and accounting requirements usually required and accepted by the State; ii. When there is uncertainty about the income earned by an individual, such as in the instant case, it is possible to use a method based on the minimum amount necessary for a person with a family to subsist. In Colombia a minimum wage is established that attempts to respond to the minimum income that a family requires to satisfy its basic needs. The salary that would have been earned at the time of the facts should be used, converted to its current value, and iii. According to the calculation of the wages and the age of the alleged victims at the time of their detention, the total amount to be compensated is 10,536,596,944 pesos (US$4,100,991). 245. Arguments of the State (a) The State requested the Court to abstain from ordering it to recognize and pay any compensation for reparations until the national judicial authorities before whom the pertinent proceedings were ongoing had delivered a ruling, because it would be illegal. It made this request aware of