obligation to make reparations, 162 the Court will analyze the petitions of the Commission and the
representatives, as well as the arguments of the State, to set forth below the measures of reparation for
those violations.
127.
The Court notes that the State asked it to order measures of reparation that are directly
connected to the harm suffered and the violations acknowledged by the State and found proven by the
Court. It also stated its intention to implement, in concert with the relatives of Mr. Tabares Toro, any
measures of reparation ordered by the Court in this judgment. Accordingly, the discussion below refers
only to requests made by the Commission and the representatives concerning measures of reparation.
A. Injured party
128.
Pursuant to Article 63(1) of the American Convention, this Court considers that an injured party
is anyone who has been declared a victim of the violation of any right in this judgment. The Court thus
considers Óscar Iván Tabares Toro, his mother María Elena Toro Torres, his father Óscar de Jesús
Tabares, his stepfather Holmar de Jesús Gallego Márquez (deceased), his sisters María Bibiancy Tabares
Toro, Leidy Julieth Gallego Toro, and María Isabel Gallego Toro, and his brother Jhon Fredy Tabares
Giraldo to be injured parties.
B. Duty to investigate and determine individual responsibility
129.
The Commission asked the Court to order the State to continue and facilitate, with due diligence,
domestic procedures directed toward an effective investigation, pursuit, capture, prosecution, and
potential punishment of those responsible for the disappearance of Óscar Iván Tabares Toro and to carry
out these investigations in an impartial and diligent manner within a reasonable period of time with the
aim of fully determining the facts, identifying perpetrators and conspirators, and imposing the appropriate
punishments.
130.
The representatives agreed with the Commission and asked that the investigation be grounded
in an approach that takes into consideration the context of grave human rights violations within the ranks
of the army in order to exhaust all reasonable hypotheses to find those responsible and bring them to
justice. Lastly, they asked the Court to order the State to designate a group from the Office of the
Prosecutor General of the Nation to focus exclusively on furthering the criminal proceedings with the aim
of identifying and punishing those responsible for the victim's disappearance. In their final written
arguments, the representatives also requested that various members of the National Army be added to
the investigation, arguing that they had been involved in committing, investigating, and trying the
facts. 163
131.
The Court has established that the State failed to fulfill its duty to investigate the disappearance
of Óscar Iván Tabares Toro (supra para. 94). Bearing in mind the failure to clarify the events, and taking
into consideration this Court's consistent case law, the Court hereby orders the State to make every
effort to continue the investigations and the ongoing criminal trial promptly with the utmost diligence,
endeavoring to close the proceedings within a reasonable timeframe. To that end, it shall open any lines
of investigation necessary to identify, prosecute, and, when appropriate, punish those responsible for the
disappearance of Óscar Iván Tabares Toro within a reasonable time period in order to determine the truth
about what happened. Due diligence in the investigation means that all state authorities are obligated to
collaborate in gathering evidence. Accordingly, these authorities shall provide the relevant judicial body,
Cf. Case of Velásquez-Rodríguez v. Honduras. Reparations and costs, supra, paras. 25–27, and Case of
Olivera Fuentes v. Peru, supra, para. 133.
163
Specifically, they requested that the following be added: (a) “as collaborators, all of the members of the
‘Tigre’ Company of Anti-guerrilla Battalion 20, colleagues of Óscar Iván Tabares Toro, who through group solidarity
and coercion participated jointly in the facts by not filing a complaint or providing information for the criminal
investigation;” (b) “the members of the National Army who were part of the supposed search commission which took
steps on December 29, 1997, to find serviceman Tabares. There are strong indications that these military members
were responsible for burying his body, thereby permanently concealing the soldier's whereabouts;” and (c) “anyone
in a position of leadership in the army battalion and brigade, as well as any officials of the military justice system or
of any other entity who hindered the investigation into the facts.”
162
30