6
relates primarily to the damages sustained which, as this Court has ruled on previous
occasions, cover both material and moral damage (Aloeboetoe et al. Case, Reparations,
supra 15, paras. 47 and 49; El Amparo Case, Reparations, supra 15, para. 15 and Neira
Alegría et al. Case, Reparations, supra 15, para. 38).
VI
18.
In its communication of May 10, 1996, the Commission requested that the Court
order the State to adjust Colombian law to the norms of the Convention, "so that acts such
as those committed against the persons of Isidro Caballero-Delgado and María del Carmen
Santana should never recur in future," and to amend Colombia's laws governing the remedy
of habeas corpus, since, in its opinion,
one cannot ignore the fact that the absence of an effective remedy of habeas
corpus provided for and regulated by the Convention and the Court's
jurisprudence, and the lack of codification of the crime of forced disappearance
of persons in the country's domestic law facilitated the commission of the crime
of forced disappearance of Isidro Caballero-Delgado and María del Carmen
Santana.
19.
In that connection, the Government stated in its brief of July 26, 1996, that, as the
Court had ruled in its Judgment of December 8, 1995, Colombia's internal norms suffice to
guarantee enjoyment of the rights protected by the Convention; that Colombia's legislation
on habeas corpus is in harmony with the provisions of the Convention, and that it is
classified as being of "immediate application ... so that its application would not even
require any change in the law." It further stated that it was making the necessary
arrangements for submitting an adoption by Congress the texts of the Inter-American
Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons and a law codifying the crime of forced
disappearance.
VII
20.
The Commission, in its brief of May 10, 1996, requested that the Court order the
State to prosecute those responsible for the disappearance of Isidro Caballero-Delgado and
María del Carmen Santana. It further requested that the Court
determine that the judicial proceeding for identification and punishment of the perpetrators and
authors of the disappearance and possible execution of Isidro Caballero-Delgado and María del
Carmen Santana-Ortiz should be carried out by the civil courts ... in accordance with the
requirements of impartiality and independence established in Article 8(1) of the Convention.
21.
The Commission also requested the Court to order in its Judgment on reparations
that the Government take the necessary measures to localize the bodies of Mr. CaballeroDelgado and Ms. Santana and to allow Isidro Caballero-Delgado's name to be "duly and
lawfully recovered by his comrades"; that the Colombian State accord special attention and
"reasonable" economic support to "Isidro Caballero-Delgado" departmental college, and
develop a program for promotion and dissemination of human rights "designed for the
various strata of society." Under that heading, the Commission also sought the State's
public acknowledgement of its responsibility and its public apology to the victims' relatives
and to Colombian society as a whole, "accompanied by the declaration that such acts
should never again occur."
22.
In its reply, the Government affirmed that the Office of the Prosecutor of the Nation
was investigating the matter with a view to punishing those responsible for the violations