52
Convention, which has led to the impunity argued by the Commission and the
representatives in the present case.
Considerations of the Court
141.
Article 7(6) of the American Convention states that:
6.
Anyone who is deprived of his liberty shall be entitled to recourse to a
competent court, in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of
his arrest or detention and order his release if the arrest or detention is unlawful. In
States Parties whose laws provide that anyone who believes himself to be threatened
with deprivation of his liberty is entitled to recourse to a competent court in order that it
may decide on the lawfulness of such threat, this remedy may not be restricted or
abolished. The interested party or another person in his behalf is entitled to seek these
remedies.
[…]
142.
Article 8 of the Convention states that:
1.
Every person has the right to a hearing, with due guarantees and within a
reasonable time, by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal, previously
established by law, in the substantiation of any accusation of a criminal nature made
against him or for the determination of his rights and obligations of a civil, labor, fiscal,
or any other nature.
2.
Every person accused of a criminal offense has the right to be presumed
innocent so long as his guilt has not been proven according to law. During the
proceedings, every person is entitled, with full equality […] to the minimum guarantees
[.]
[…]
143.
Article 25 of the Convention states that:
1.
Everyone has the right to simple and prompt recourse, or any other effective
recourse, to a competent court or tribunal for protection against acts that violate his
fundamental rights recognized by the constitution or laws of the state concerned or by
this Convention, even though such violation may have been committed by persons
acting in the course of their official duties.
[…]
144.
Article 1(1) of the American Convention states that:
The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms
recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the free and
full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of
race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,
economic status, birth, or any other social condition.
145. The Commission and the representatives mentioned that “nine” years after
the facts occurred, an accusation has not been presented against any suspect, and
that the State has incurred in an unjustified delay in the investigations, since at the
time of the presentation of the accusation in the criminal process it was still in its
preliminary stages, reason for which the impunity in the present case persists. On its
part, the State denied that it had not investigated the facts, but it accepted that the
results produced from the same have not been up to now adequate, since “there has