28.
In addition, the Court appreciates the efforts made by the State to amend article 57
of the Code of Military Justice. Despite this, the Court reiterates what it stated in the Order
on compliance in this case issued on May 19, 2011, to the effect that the initiative
presented to the Congress of the Union on October 19, 2010, “is insufficient because it does
not comply fully with the standards indicated in the Judgment,” since it would allow the
Military Public Prosecution Service to investigate crimes perpetrated against civilians by
military personnel, and because “the said reform only establishes that the military
jurisdiction will not be competent [to deal with] forced disappearance of persons, torture
and rape committed by military personnel.”20
29.
Nevertheless, the Court underlines the efforts made by the State to make the
definition of the crime of forced disappearance contained in article 215A of the Federal
Criminal Code compatible with the relevant international standards. However, the Court
reiterates that, in order to comply with this aspect of the Judgment, “the State should not
merely ‘present’ the corresponding bill, but also ensure its prompt approval and entry into
force, according to the respective procedures established in domestic law.”21 The Court also
recalls that the said bill must respect the corresponding criteria described in the Judgment
in this case.22 Lastly, based on the foregoing, the Court asked the State to forward updated
information on the effective implementation of the reforms that were ordered to the Code of
Military Justice and to the Federal Criminal Code.
D.
Obligation to implement, within a reasonable time and with the respective
budgetary allocation, permanent programs and courses relating to the analysis of
the case law of the inter-American system for the protection of human rights in
relation to the limits of the military criminal justice system, as well as a training
program on the proper investigation and prosecution of acts that constitute forced
disappearance of persons (twelfth operative paragraph of the Judgment)
30.
The State advised that it had offered various training sessions, courses, seminars
and conferences to the judges of the Judiciary of the Federation, the agents of the Public
Prosecution Service of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGR), and the judges and members
of the Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) and the Navy Secretariat (SEMAR).
31.
Regarding the implementation of the training sessions for officials of the Federation’s
Judiciary, the State advised that, under the ruling issued on July 14, 2011, in the case file
“Various matters 912/2010” (supra considering paragraph 5), the Plenary of the Supreme
20
Cf. Case of Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico. Monitoring compliance with judgment. Order of the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights of May 19, 2011, twenty-first and twenty-second considering paragraphs.
21
Cf. Case of Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico. Preliminary objections, merits reparations and costs. Judgment of
November 23, 2009. Series C No. 209, para. 344.
22
In the Judgment, the Court referred to two element of this provision that were not compatible with the
ICFDP. First, it indicated that “the said provision restricts the authorship of the crime of forced disappearance of
persons to ‘public servants,’” while Article II of the ICFDP indicates that States must “ensure the punishment of all
the ‘authors, accomplices and accessories to the crime of forced disappearance of persons’, whether they are
agents of the State or ‘persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the
State.’” The Judgment also establishes that “the forced disappearance of persons is characterized by the refusal to
acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or to provide information on the fate or whereabouts of the individuals,” and
that “[t]his element must be present in the definition of the crime, because it allows forced disappearance to be
distinguished from other illegal acts with which it is usually related, such as kidnapping or abduction, and murder,
so that appropriate probative criteria can be applied and punishments imposed on all those implicated in its
perpetration that take into consideration the extreme gravity of this crime.” Cf. Case of Radilla Pacheco v. Mexico.
Preliminary objections, merits reparations and costs. Judgment of November 23, 2009. Series C No. 209, paras.
320 to 324.
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