53
Accordingly, he shall be the beneficiary of the reparations ordered by the Tribunal
hereinbelow.
B)
i)
Compensation
Pecuniary damages
181. The Court has developed the notion of pecuniary damages and the cases in
which compensation for them must be set.151
182. The Inter-American Commission pointed out that, in the instant case, since
restitutio in integrum is not possible, compensation must be paid for the damages
caused. The Commission also developed the general standards on reparations and
requested that the Court order full reparation measures, “which also represent a
message against impunity.”
183. The representatives considered that compensatory damages must include
consequential damages and lost earnings and that they must be determined on
equitable grounds, since, owing to the time elapsed, the victim did not keep the
receipts of the alleged expenses. They pointed out that consequential damages
include fees for legal counsel and other expenses incurred by Mr. Tristán Donoso in
the two proceedings conducted in Panamá, the expenses he incurred when he
emigrated to Canada in search of new opportunities, and the medical fees and
money spent on medication for his father, whose health was adversely affected after
the dismissal was reversed and the victim was called to trial. Additionally, the
professional activity of the victim as a lawyer was affected by the criminal conviction
entered against him. Hence, lost earnings include the income the victim did not
receive as a consequence of the facts of the instant case, mainly after being
stigmatized as a criminal; by the direct confrontation with such a prominent figure as
the Procurador General de la Nación [National Attorney General], and by the fact
that the was barred from being nominated as Supreme Court Justice due to the
criminal punishment.
184. The Court observes that the representatives of the victim did not file any
evidence to prove the alleged pecuniary damages. As it has been decided in previous
cases, expenses incurred for legal counsel during domestic proceedings will be
considered under the costs and expenses item.152 This Tribunal shall not set any
compensation for the alleged lost earnings in relation to the professional activity of
the victim, due to the lack of elements to evidence whether such losses actually
existed, whether they resulted from the facts of the instant case or, possibly, which
would have been the amount of such sums. Likewise, the Court finds it unproven
that the victim had to flee Panamá because of the violations stated herein, as well as
151
This Court has established that pecuniary damages involve “the loss of or detriment to the victims'
income, the expenses incurred as a result of the facts, and the monetary consequences that have a causal
nexus with the facts of the sub judice case.” Cf. Case of Bámaca-Velásquez v. Guatemala. Reparations and
Costs. Judgment of February 22, 2002. Series C No. 91, para. 43; Case of Ticona-Estrada et al., supra
note 6, para. 111, and Case of Valle-Jaramillo et al., supra note 6, para. 212.
152
Cf. Case of Kimel, supra note 78, para. 109; Case of Heliodoro Portugal, supra note 66, para.
231; and Case of Ticona-Estrada et al., supra note 6, para. 124.