26 brought to decide promptly about his liberty.” To the contrary, according to the Commission, the reason for his detention was “to interrogate him, mistreat him, threaten him and, finally, eliminate him.” The Commission argued that Article 7(6) of the Convention was violated because Heliodoro Portugal was not granted “the possibility of filing, on his own initiative, a prompt and effective remedy to determine the lawfulness of his detention, and was kept deprived of liberty in a place other than the official or authorized places of detention, without any institutional control.” 100. The Commission also indicated that the State of Panama violated Article 5(1) and 5(2) of the Convention, “because it did not respect the physical, mental and moral integrity of Heliodoro Portugal, since it did not treat him with the respect due to the inherent dignity of the human being.” According to the Commission, this alleged treatment consisted in: (i) the forced transfer and hiding of the alleged victim, so that his next of kin did not know his whereabouts; (ii) his subjection to a situation of incommunicado in places that were not detention centers, and (iii) the fear and anguish produced by his situation of vulnerability and “the uncertainty regarding the outcome of his deprivation of liberty, owing to the systematic practice of extrajudicial executions at the time.” All of the foregoing in relation to the existence of a pattern of grave human rights violations at the time of the facts. The Commission also indicated that there is material evidence, such as the analysis of the osseous remains and testimonial evidence, to suggest that the victim was subjected to torture. 101. Lastly, the Commission indicated that Heliodoro Portugal was last seen alive in the military barracks in the Tocumen area. The discovery and identification of his remains in September 1999 “helped confirm that he had been executed in the barracks while he was in the custody of State agents, and the date of this event is unknown at present.” In addition, the Commission indicated that “the existence of a pattern of violations of the right to life in Panama at the time of the facts has been proved”; a fact acknowledged by the State itself. The disappearance of the victim extended until August 21, 2000, as a continuing violation and, “although the genetic identification of the remains of Mr. Portugal confirms that that he was executed while he was in the custody of the State,” there is still “uncertainty about the date, method and place of this execution, as well as those responsible for the execution and hiding the corpse.” 102. The representatives endorsed the allegations presented by the Commission. In brief, the representatives indicated that there had been a violation of Article 7(1), 7(2), 7(3), 7(4), 7(5) and 7(6) of the Convention, because Mr. Portugal was a victim of unlawful and arbitrary detention, that deprived him of his physical liberty without any legal basis and without being brought before a judge or court with competence to examine his detention, so that, in addition, he and his family were prevented from filing any judicial remedy that would protect him from the arbitrariness of his detention. The representatives also stated that, from the conditions in which the remains of Mr. Portugal were found, it could be concluded that he was subjected to torture and that “the physical injuries he suffered could have caused his death.” Lastly, the representatives indicated that “the political context in Panama at the time resulted in an increase of violence against the opponents of the military regime,” including torture. The representatives also indicated that the disappearance of Heliodoro Portugal “occurred at the hands of State agents and in a context of political violence, where grave human rights violations predominated.” Consequently, they asked the Court to declare that Panama was responsible for the violation of Article 4 of the Convention, because “the death of Mr. Portugal took place in a context of a forced disappearance perpetrated by military agents, and was prolonged until 2000, when his death was confirmed.”

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