I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND PURPOSE OF THE DISPUTE 1. The case submitted to the Court. On July 10, 2012, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) submitted to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights the case of the “Landaeta Mejías Brothers et al.” against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter “the State” or “Venezuela”). According to the Commission, the case concerns the alleged extrajudicial execution of the brothers Igmar Alexander Landaeta Mejías (hereinafter “Igmar Landaeta”) and Eduardo José Landaeta Mejías (hereinafter “Eduardo Landaeta”), 18 and 17 years of age respectively, by officials of the Public Order and Security Corps of the state of Aragua, Venezuela (hereinafter “CSOP”). In this regard, the Commission indicated that “following threats and harassment against him, Igmar Alexander Landaeta Mejías was extrajudicially executed on November 17, 1996, while six weeks later – on December 30, 1996 – his brother, the minor Eduardo José Landaeta Mejías was unlawfully and arbitrarily deprived of liberty and, the following day, during a supposed transfer, he was extrajudicially executed. These facts took place in the context of extrajudicial executions in Venezuela, especially in the state of Aragua. The death of the two brothers remains unpunished. In the case of Igmar Alexander Landaeta Mejías, the criminal proceedings against the authorities culminated in a dismissal, while in the case of Eduardo José Landaeta Mejías, the criminal proceedings are still underway 16 years after his death.” 2. Processing by the Commission. The process before the Commission was as follows: a) Petitions. On September 20, 2004, the Commission received the initial petition with regard to Igmar Landaeta. On April 24, 2006, the Commission received the initial petition with regard to Eduardo Landaeta. On June 26, 2006, the Commission informed the parties that the petition concerning Eduardo Landaeta had been joindered to the petition concerning Igmar Landaeta. Nevertheless, on January 30, 2007, the Commission advised the parties that, in view of the particularities of each petition, it had decided to separate them in order to analyze compliance with the requirements of admissibility of each one independently. b) Admissibility reports. On March 9, 2007, the Inter-American Commission approved Admissibility Report No. 23/07 with regard to the petition concerning Eduardo Landaeta. 1 Subsequently, on March 20, 2009, the Commission approved Admissibility Report No. 22/09, with regard to the petition concerning Igmar Landaeta. 2 c) Merits report. On March 21, 2012, the Commission approved Merits Report No. 58/12, 3 in accordance with Article 50 of the American Convention (hereinafter “Merits Report” or “Report No. 58/12”) in relation to both cases, in which it reached a series of conclusions and made several recommendations to the State. a. Conclusions. The Commission concluded that the State was responsible for the violation of the following rights recognized in the American Convention: i. The rights to life and humane treatment (Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention) of Igmar Landaeta; 1 In this report, the Inter-American Commission declared the petition admissible in relation to the presumed violation of Articles 4, 5, 7, 19, 8 and 25 in relation to Article 1(1) of the American Convention. Cf. Admissibility Report No. 23/07, Eduardo José Landaeta Mejías v. Venezuela, of March 9, 2007 (file of the procedure before the Commission, folio 1937). 2 In this report, the Inter-American Commission declared the petition admissible in relation to the presumed violation of Articles 4, 5, 8 and 25, in relation to Article 1(1) of the American Convention, and decided to joinder the petition to the case of Eduardo Landaeta. Cf. Admissibility Report No. 22/09, Igmar Alexander Landaeta Mejías v. Venezuela, of March 20, 2009 (file of the procedure before the Commission, folio 2314). 3 Cf. Merits Report No. 58/12. Case of 12,606. Landaeta Mejías Brothers v. Venezuela, of March 21, 2012 (merits file, folio 6). 3