17 keep committing that violation at every moment. Therefore, when analyzing a case of forced disappearance, it should be noted that the deprivation of liberty must only be understood as the constitution of a complex violation that continues in time until the fate and whereabouts of the alleged victim is known. Based on the foregoing, it is necessary then to consider in full the forced disappearance as an autonomous and continuous or permanent crime, with multiple and intricately interconnected elements. As a consequence, the analysis of a possible forced disappearance should not be approached in an isolated, divided and segmented way, based only on the detention or possible torture or risk to lose one’s life, but on the set of facts presented in the case brought to the Court’s attention, taking into account the case-law of the Tribunal regarding the interpretation of the American Convention, as well as the InterAmerican Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons for those State Parties that ratified such treaty.”36 57. Article 7 of the American Convention establishes that every person has the right to personal liberty. In this sense, the Court has repeated that a restriction to this right must be carried out only due to the causes and the conditions previously established by the Political Constitutions or by the laws enacted pursuant to them (material aspect), as well as strictly subject to the procedures objectively defined in the same (formal aspect).”37 58. Regarding Article 5 of the Convention, this Tribunal has mentioned that forced disappearance violates the right to humane treatment since “the mere subjection of an individual to prolonged isolation and deprivation of communication is in itself cruel and inhuman treatment […] incompatible with paragraphs 1 and 2 of said Article.”38 It is clear that in the case of a forced disappearance, the victim’s personal integrity is affected in all its dimensions. 59. Furthermore, the Court has considered that the practice of forced disappearance has often involved secret execution without trial, followed by concealment of the body to eliminate any material evidence of the crime and to ensure the impunity of those responsible.39 Furthermore, the Tribunal has held that subjecting a person to official, repressive bodies that practice torture and assassination with impunity is itself a breach of the duty to prevent violations of the rights to life and physical integrity of the person, even if that particular person is not tortured or assassinated, or if those facts cannot be proven in a concrete case.40 60. Moreover, the Court observes that because of the same nature of the forced disappearance, the victim is seriously vulnerable and in that condition, the risk of having other rights violated appears, for example, the right to life as enshrined in 36 Cf. Case of Heliodoro Portugal v. Panamá, supra note 13, para. 112. Cf. Case of Gangaram Panday v. Surinam. Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of January 21, 1994. Series C Nº 16, para. 47; Case of García Asto and Ramirez Rojas v. Perú. Preliminary Objections, Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of November 25, 2005. Series C Nº 137 para. 105; and Case of Servellón García et al. v. Honduras. Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of September 21, 2006. Series C Nº 152, para. 89. 38 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra note 16, para. 156 and 187; Case of Miguel Castro Castro Prison v. Perú. Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of November 25, 2006. Series C Nº 160, para. 323; and Case of Chaparro Alvarez and Lapo Iñiguez v. Ecuador. Preliminary Objections, Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of November 21, 2007. Series C Nº. 170, para. 171. 39 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra note 16, para. 157; Case of the 19 Tradesmen v. Colombia. Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of July 5, 2004. Series C Nº. 109, para. 154; and Case of Gómez Palomino v. Perú, supra note 35, para. 103. 40 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra note 16, para. 175. 37

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