40
90.
The Court will now consider those injurious effects of the facts that are not
financial or pertaining to the estate. Non-pecuniary damage can include suffering
and distress caused to the direct victims and to their next of kin, and detriment to
very significant values of persons, such as non-pecuniary alterations in the
conditions of existence of the victim or the victim’s family. This damage can only be
compensated by amounts set by the Court through reasonable application of judicial
discretion.59
Arguments of the representatives of the next of kin of the victim
91.
The representatives argued that:
a)
b)
while it is presumed that there was non-pecuniary damage to the
victim, it is necessary to mention the fear and anguish which Walter
David Bulacio must have felt, in a situation of defenselessness during
the hours from when he was detained until he lost consciousness,
during which he must have felt spiritual suffering which must be
compensated “adequately through his heirs apparent;”
the parents of the victim, Víctor David Bulacio and Graciela Rosa
Scavone, were seriously affected by the facts and, especially, by
subsequent denial of justice after the detention and death of their son.
In the father’s case, his physical and spiritual deterioration due to
what happened to his son led to several attempts to commit suicide;
a)
with respect to Lorena Beatriz Bulacio, the victim’s sister,
compensation must be made for her spiritual suffering, which in her
case generated grave pathological psychological consequences; and
b)
finally, María Ramona Armas de Bulacio, the grandmother of the
victim, who “undertook the family mandate of not allowing Walter’s
case to be forgotten by society,” must receive compensation “for her
immense grief.”
Arguments of the Commission
92.
Walter David Bulacio and his next of kin experienced moral suffering because
of the facts in the instant case. Therefore, they have a right to reparation, as “it is
clear [...] that Walter’s detention and death have had a catastrophic impact on the
family;” the damage caused by the traumatic situation they suffered has left effects
and scars, many of them “irremediable.” Furthermore, the next of kin of the victim
have sought justice for almost twelve years, without attaining effective results, which
has also brought them negative consequences. Specifically, the Commission pointed
out that:
a)
59
it is part of human nature that any person subject to aggression and
maltreatment experiences deep moral suffering, which extends to the
Cf., Juan Humberto Sánchez Case, supra note 4, para. 168; El Caracazo Case, Reparations, supra
note 5, para. 94; and Trujillo Oroza Case, Reparations, supra note 30, para. 77.
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