474. Lastly, the principle of the complementarity of international law cannot be disregarded.
This is recognized in the Preamble to the American Convention752 and has been taken into
account by the Court in other cases753 to acknowledge the compensation granted at the
domestic level and to abstain from ordering reparations in this regard, when this is pertinent.
475. The Court decides that the Colombian State must guarantee that all the persons who
have been recognized as victims in this Judgment (supra paras. 431) have priority access to the
said administrative reparations, and that it proceed to pay them, as soon as possible,
irrespective of the time frames that domestic law may have established for this, avoiding
obstacles of any type. The foregoing must be implemented within no more than one year of
notification of this Judgment.
476. In addition, in the case of the next of kin of Marino López, the Court notes that they
suffered different types of effects owing to his death, namely: (a) owing to the particularly cruel
circumstances in which Marino López was executed (supra para. 435), and (b) owing to the fact
that this act remained unpunished for 15 years, and that, even today, those responsible have
not been tried or punished. Based on the criteria established in its consistent case law, the
Court finds it pertinent to establish, in equity, for the pecuniary and non-pecuniary harm caused
to Marino López Mena, the sum of US$70,000.00 (seventy thousand United States dollars) or
the equivalent in Colombian pesos, which must be paid within the respective time frame (infra
para. 482) to Mrs. Palacios, companion of Mr. López, as well as the sum of US$35,000.00
(thirty-five thousand United States dollars) or the equivalent in Colombian pesos, to each of Mr.
López Mena’s children, and US$10,000.00 (ten thousand United States dollars) to each of his
siblings, to be determined as indicated above (supra para. 435).
E. Costs and expenses
477. The representatives indicated that they have been supporting the community from
February 28, 1997, to date, as well as during “approximately eleven […] years of litigation at
the domestic level, and four years at the international level.” They also indicated that the
average expenditure, per person, to visit the humanitarian zones is US$700 (seven hundred
United States dollars) and that, in activities of “gathering information, powers of attorney,
development of the reparation proposal presented in this brief, and information activities to
explain to the victims” about the inter-American system and the processing of this case, they
had incurred expenses of US$17,500 (seventeen thousand five hundred United States dollars).
Lastly, they calculated that their expenses in relation to the litigation before the Inter-American
Court amounted to US$6,000 (six thousand United States dollars) and the value of the support
provided from 2002 to 2011754 at US$793,866 (seven hundred and ninety-three thousand eight
hundred and sixty-six United States dollars). To authenticate the foregoing, the representatives
attached a series of invoices for public services, stationery expenses, restaurants, plane and
bus tickets, payments they had made in the name of various individuals, and other elements,
without providing any further explanation.
478. The Commission did not make any claims and the State did not refer to the
representatives’ request.
752
Cf. Preamble to the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights: “Recognizing that the essential rights of man
are not derived from one's being a national of a certain state, but are based upon attributes of the human personality, and
that they therefore justify international protection in the form of a convention reinforcing or complementing the protection
provided by the domestic law of the American States.”
753
Cf. Case of the Santo Domingo Massacre v. Colombia, para. 336, and Case of Manuel Cepeda Vargas v.
Colombia, para. 246.
754
The total value of the support from 2002 to 2011 was disaggregated by the representatives as follows: (a)
49.5% personnel expenses; (b) 23.9% travel and transport expenses; (c) 3.7% legal procedures, and (d) 22.9%
administrative expenses.
148
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