115. Regarding this request, the Court finds that the delivery of this judgment and the
reparations ordered in this chapter are sufficient and adequate to redress the violations
suffered by the victims.
E. Compensation
116. In its case law, the Court has developed the concept of pecuniary damage and has
established that this entails the loss of or detriment to the income of the victims, the
expenses incurred as a result of the facts, and the consequences of a pecuniary nature
that have a causal nexus to the facts of the case. 133
117. The Court has also established in its case law that non-pecuniary damage “may
include both the suffering and affliction caused by the violations, and also the impairment
of values of great significance to the individual, and any alteration of a non-pecuniary
nature in the living conditions of the victims.” Moreover, as it is not possible to allocate
a precise monetary equivalent to non-pecuniary damage, it can only be compensated,
for the purposes of full reparation to the victim, by the payment of a sum of money or
the delivery of goods or services of a monetary value, that the Court determines in
reasonable application of sound judicial discretion and based on equity. 134
118. The Commission recommended providing full reparation, both pecuniary and nonpecuniary, for the human rights violations declared in the Merits Report.
119. The representatives asked the Court to establish compensation for both the
pecuniary damage (consequential damage and loss of earnings) and the non-pecuniary
or moral damage suffered by the victims. Regarding the pecuniary damage, they asked
that the sentence and all its effects be annulled, requiring the reimbursement of the
amounts imposed by that ruling and paid by La Nación due to the civil conviction to pay
damages of ₡5,000,000.00 colones (five million colones) and to pay procedural costs of
₡1,000,000.00 (one million colones). Regarding the non-pecuniary damage, they asked
for compensation of US$50,000.00 (fifty thousand United States dollars) for each victim.
120. The State indicated that the alleged victims had not proved that they had made
any disbursements from their own assets, or that their income had been impaired owing
to the civil compensation imposed by the civil judgment convicting them. It noted that
the joint and several sentence to pay 5 million colones had been paid by La Nación and
not by the alleged victims, and that there was no evidence of a “risk of a claim for
restitution” by this newspaper, so that the assets of the journalists were not affected. It
noted that, in their pleadings and motions brief, the representatives had not provided
any evidence to substantiate the assertion that there had been “emotional damage and
reputational harm” other than the testimony of the direct interested parties. It added
that this was supported by the fact that Messrs. Moya and Parrales had continued to
work as journalists without interruption and that, as confirmed by the statement of
witness Armando González, following the civil compensation payment, there had been
no change of any kind in the way they practiced journalism.
Cf. Case of Bámaca Velásquez v. Guatemala. Reparations and costs. Judgment of February 22, 2002.
Series C No. 91, para. 43, and Case of Pavez Pavez v. Chile, supra, para. 192.
133
Cf. Case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán Morales et al.) v. Guatemala. Reparations and costs.
Judgment of May 26, 2001. Series C No. 77, para. 84, and Case of Pavez Pavez v. Chile, supra, para. 197.
134
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