213. Based on the above considerations, the Court concludes that the fact that the
judicial remedy available was an appeal for annulment has not constituted a violation of
the right to judicial protection in the present case.
214. In addition, the representatives indicated that, since it is a remedy of annulment,
the appeal for annulment “does not allow all the aspects of the evidence to be
considered, so that the petitioners could not argue defects of consent.” In this regard,
the State emphasized that “[t]here is no limitation of any kind to the powers of the
Contentious-Administrative Tribunal as regards evidence under the annulment
proceedings,” except that “it may reject any [evidence] that it finds significantly dilatory
or prohibited by law.” According to the State, the parties “were able to offer any type of
evidence additional to the evidence included in the previous administrative decisions
that the appeal for annulment contested […].” The State also asserted that, in the
appeals for annulment filed by the alleged victims, “probative elements submitted within
the time frame and in the form established by law were not rejected.”
215. According to the norms that govern this remedy, the expert opinion of Daniel
Hugo Martins, and the decisions of the said tribunal, it is clear that the alleged limitation
did not exist with regard to the evidence or the arguments that the parties could submit
to the decision of the said tribunal.
216. Given the reasons for which the Court declared a violation of the material sphere
of the alleged victims’ right to be heard (supra paras. 133 to 142), the Court finds that,
for the appeal for annulment before the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal to be
effective, according to Article 25(1) of the American Convention, the said tribunal would
have had to examine fully whether the Central Bank’s analysis of the requirement of
consent conformed to the provisions of article 31 of Law 17,613 for the determination of
the rights that it granted.
217. From the judgments that were provided, the Court observes that the
Contentious-Administrative Tribunal analyzed the requirements stipulated in article 31
and their application by the Central Bank in 11 of them, and decided that the allegations
concerning defects of consent or non-compliance with the obligation to inform had not
been proved, indicating, inter alia, that “factual evidence was lacking” or that “there was
insufficient evidence.” The Court does not have sufficient elements to determine whether
the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal’s assessment of the evidence impaired the
effectiveness of the said remedy with regard to the respective claimants.266
266
Cf. (1) Judgment No. 691 of the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of September 16, 2010, in
proceedings entitled “Clemata José et al. v. the Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of
attachments to the answer, volume III, attachment 27, folios 13865 to 13886); (2) Judgment No. 713 of the
Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of October 25, 2006, in proceedings entitled “Azparren, Ana v. the Central
Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of attachments to the answer, volume III, attachment 27, folio
13907 to 13918); (3) Judgment No. 659 of the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of October 4, 2006, in
proceedings entitled “Alzaradel, Rita v. the Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of
attachments to the answer, volume III, attachment 27, folios 13965 to 13972); (4) Judgment No. 316 of the
Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of June 18, 2007, in proceedings entitled “Contín, Gianni et al. v. the
Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of attachments to the answer, volume IV, attachment 27,
folios 14470 to 14481); (5) Judgment No. 487 of the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of October 23, 2008,
in proceedings entitled “Castro, Gustavo v. the Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of
attachments to the answer, volume IV, attachment 27, folios 14597 to 14602); (6) Judgment No. 477 of the
Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of September 3, 2007, in proceedings entitled “Perles, Gisela v. the
Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of attachments to the answer, volume V, attachment 27,
folios 14871 to 14881); (7) Judgment No. 16 of the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of February 5, 2007,
in proceedings entitled “Neuschul, Franklin v. the Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of
attachments to the answer, volume V, attachment 27, folios 14932 to 14941); (8) Judgment No. 306 of the
Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of June 13, 2007, in proceedings entitled “Lingeri, Manuel v. the Central
Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of attachments to the answer, volume V, attachment 27, folios
15048 to 15061); (9) Judgment No. 719 of the Contentious-Administrative Tribunal of October 25, 2006, in
proceedings entitled “Horvath, Raúl v. the Central Bank of Uruguay. Appeal for annulment” (file of attachments
to the answer, volume V, attachment 27, folios 15121 to 15128); (10) Judgment No. 726 of the ContentiousAdministrative Tribunal of December 17, 2007, in proceedings entitled “Gutiérrez, Eduardo v. the Central Bank
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