the Court should not take them into account either when deliberating.”50 The State added that if
the Court admitted this, “it would result in a violation of due process by preventing the State
from being able to contest the evidence.” Regarding the document, “Census of the Río Sucio
inhabitants,” the State noted that “it is not signed by the author or the spokesperson,” that “the
document is a series of lists with significant errors,” and that “the lists, evidently prepared by
third parties, in many cases do not bear the signature of those who appear on the list, or the
fingerprint in the case of those who are unable to sign their names, and identity documents are
missing.” In addition, the State observed that several of these documents seek “to change the
universe of presumed victims in the case.” With regard to the document “Certificate of persons
deceased,” the State underscored that Alirio Mosquera Palacio is not authorized to certify the
death of anyone and that this “authority is exclusive to the National Civil Registry, based on a
death certificate issued by a registered doctor, or the Institute of Forensic Medicine.” The State
indicated that it had no observations to make on the other documents.
55.
For its part, the Commission stated that, regarding the annexes to the final written
arguments of the representatives, “the documents provided by the representatives constitute
important probative elements to dissipate any possible doubts that the Inter-American Court
might have had on the identification of victims in complex cases such as this one, which were
revealed by the questions posed during the hearing.
56.
Regarding the annexes sent with the State’s brief with final arguments, the
representatives indicated that they were time-barred and that this information had “not been
assessed at the proper moment by the other parties during the proceedings, and they had not
had the opportunity to include it in their assessment of the evidence in their final oral or written
arguments, so that introducing it at this point infringed their procedural rights.” Likewise, the
Commission indicated that these documents had not been submitted at the appropriate
procedural moment, and this should be understood, “notwithstanding the assessment that the
Court may make of the documents requested as helpful evidence.” It also indicated that several
of the annexes were “aimed at questioning the representatives’ lists of victims and those with
the Commission’s report.”
57.
Regarding the annexes to the final arguments of the representatives,51 the State did not
contest them, and the Court incorporates them into the case file. As regards the three
documents with the censuses,52 the Court considers that this documentation is useful to
determine the lists of presumed victims in the case, so that it incorporates them into the case
file in application of Article 58(b) of the Rules of Procedure. These annexes will be assessed with
the whole body of evidence and as pertinent for this case. Regarding the other documents, the
Court deems that the presentation of these documents was time-barred, so that they will not be
considered in this Judgment.
58.
With regard to the annexes to the State’s final written arguments, the Court indicates
that several of these refer to judicial measures and proceedings concerning the events that
form the factual framework of the case.53 In addition, several of these documents were
50
It indicated, in particular, that: (a) they should be have been individualized and their purpose defined at the
time the representatives presented their brief with motions, arguments and evidence; (b) furthermore, they were not
included on the definitive list presented to the Court by the representatives; (c) there was no justification of force
majeure or grave impediment that would have prevented their presentation at the appropriate procedural moment, and
(d) the State was unable to question the deponents or present observations on the statements.
51
The documents presented by the representatives entitled “Certification, members of the Higher Council” and
“Certification Spokesperson Río Sucio”
52
Documents: (a) Census inhabitants Río Sucio; (b) Census Vivir Mejor program, and (c) Census Social Solidarity
Network.
53
These documents are: (a) report of the Prosecutor General’s Office on the voluntary confessions provided by
the demobilized members of the FARC, who were part of the José María Córdoba Bloc; (b) copy of the statement made
by J.E.V.R. Romaña on March 3, 2007, before the 21st Special Prosecutor attached to the National Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law Unit; (c) copy of the sworn statement made by J.E.V.R. Romaña on November 5, 2008,
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