26.
The State argued that the representatives bypassed the procedure established in Articles
46 to 51 of the Convention, because they presented, for the first time, before the Court
arguments and violations of the Convention that were not indicated opportunely before the
Commission, namely: the allegedly violations of Articles 9 and 2 of the Convention. It argued
that this prevented the State from exercising the defense mechanisms established in Articles
46(2) and 47 of the Convention, which resulted in a violation of due process and its right of
defense, so that the Court lacks competence to examine these new requests by the
representatives.
27.
The Commission observed that the legal classification made by the representatives was
based on the factual framework of its Merits Report as regards the normative applicable to the
deportation procedure. In addition, it considered that, in keeping with the regulation of the
system of individual petitions in the American Convention,29 the fact that a petitioner does not
allege a specific violation under an article of the American Convention in the proceedings before
the Commission, “does not, in itself, result in a limitation to making autonomous legal
arguments that differ from those of the Commission in the proceedings before the Court, and
having legal representation.”
28.
The representatives indicated that the State’s position was unclear, but inferring that the
supposed new facts to which the State is referring are those related to the violation of Articles 9
and 2 of the Convention, these facts do not modify, alter or impair the factual framework of the
case.
Considerations of the Court
29.
The Court notes that the legal classification of certain facts under Articles 9 and 2 of the
Convention, proposed by the representatives, is based on the factual framework of this case. In
particular as regards the normative applicable to the domestic procedures for the deportation of
a person owing to his or her migratory situation and for the determination of refugee status.
Thus, as indicated in the preceding segment (supra paras. 23 and 24), the Court is able to
examine the alleged violation of these provisions, without the exhaustion of domestic remedies
– which, in any case, the State did not provide grounds for – being relevant in this regard.
Consequently, the Court determines that the State’s assertion is not a matter for a preliminary
objection, so that it is inadmissible.
C. “Competence ratione loci”
Arguments of the parties and of the Commission
30.
The State argued that the representatives had attributed to Bolivia facts that had
occurred outside its territory, in relation to the alleged violation of Article 17 of the Convention,
owing to the separation of the Pacheco Tineo family and the consequences of a pecuniary and
non-pecuniary nature that they had faced or suffered as of their first detention in Peru.30 It
indicated that the Court had already declared Mr. Pacheco Osco and Mrs. Tineo Godos to be
29
It considered that the lodging of a petition does not require legal representation and that a detailed description
of the actions that are considered to have violated the Convention was sufficient, as well as adequate information to
issue a ruling on whether the admissibility requirements had been met. Throughout the proceedings before the
Commission, the procedures should respond to the different levels of representation or experience of the petitioners
and, if pertinent, of their representatives. It is the Inter-American Commission that must, based on its attributes, make
a legal classification of the facts described by the petitioners in its Admissibility Report, at that time defining the purpose
of the case, which will be analyzed at the merits stage.
30
It indicated that the representatives referred to facts such as the separation of the family, the psychological
traumas, and the physical ailments, the attacks on the reputation of the family members, and the harm to their life
projects, much of which resulted from the torture, detention, persecution, and other wrongful acts that supposedly
occurred in Peru.
12