the inspection report dated March 15, 2000, the Labor Public Prosecutor filed a public civil
action against João Luiz Quagliato before the Araguaia Labor Judge (supra para. 179).
388. On July 20, 2000, a hearing was held on the charges filed by the Public Prosecution
Service before the Conciliation and Prosecution Board of Araguaia. In May 2002, the Ministry
of Labor conducted a further inspection to verify compliance with the commitments agreed
between the Labor Public Prosecutor and several rural employers and, in the course of this
inspection, a visit was made to Hacienda Brasil Verde. Following the inspection, the Labor
Public Prosecutor concluded that the employers were complying with their commitments and
that, consequently, direct administration of the employees by the employer had eliminated
the workers’ financial and physical dependence on the gatos, which had been the cause of
the exploitation of forced labor and conditions similar to those of slavery (supra paras. 181
and 184).
389. Finally, with regard to the criminal proceedings resulting from the March 2000
inspection, the Court notes that, during the public hearing, one of the expert witnesses and
also the representatives referred to criminal proceedings opened into the facts documented
on March 15, 2000, in Hacienda Brasil Verde. However, the State had made no mention of
these proceedings, and the Court had no information about them up until that moment. The
Court asked the State to present a complete copy of the said proceedings so that it would
have all the available information in order to deliver judgment. In this regard, the State
advised that, despite the actions taken, it had been unable to obtain a copy of proceedings
No. 2001.39.01.000270-0, opened in 2001, before the Second Jurisdiction of the Marabá
Federal Justice Department, state of Pará.
390. Nevertheless, public information available on the official website of the Federal Justice
Department in the state of Pará reveals that these criminal proceedings were filed before the
Marabá Federal Court on February 28, 2001, and subsequently transferred to the Xinguara
State Court, state of Pará, on August 3, 2001. Nothing happened in these proceedings for 10
years, at least up until June 2, 2011, and there is no other information in this regard. 495
i)
The effectiveness of the proceedings and the existence of an effective remedy
391. The Court has indicated that Article 25(1) of the Convention establishes, in broad
terms, the obligation of States to provide everyone subject to their jurisdiction with an
effective judicial remedy against acts that violate their fundamental rights.496
392. In addition, the Court has established that, for the State to comply with the provisions
of Article 25 of the Convention, the formal existence of the remedies is not sufficient, rather
they must be effective; in other words, they must lead to results or solutions to the violations
of rights recognized in either the Convention, the Constitution or the law. This means that
the remedy must be appropriate to counteract the violation and that its implementtion by
the competent authority must be effective. Likewise, an effective remedy signifies that the
analysis of a judicial remedy by the competent authority cannot be reduced to a mere
formality; rather, that authority must examine the reasons cited by the plaintiff and issue an
express opinion on them.497 Those remedies that are illusory, owing to the general situation
Website of the Pará Federal Justice Department: https://processual.trf1.jus.br/consultaProcessual/processo.
php?proc=200139010002700&secao=MBA&pg=1&trf1_captcha_id=2dc48777b78e795a538b3aa440996f7b&trf1_c
aptcha=f4gj&enviar=Pesquisar, consulted on October 10, 2016.
495
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Preliminary objections, para. 91, and Case of Maldonado Ordoñez,
para. 108.
496
Cf. Case of López Álvarez v. Honduras. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of February 1, 2006. Series C
No. 141, para. 96, and Case of Maldonado Ordoñez, para. 109.
497
97