15
73.
In view of the above, the Court rejects the second preliminary objection.
*
*
*
THIRD PRELIMINARY OBJECTION
“Illegitimacy of the representatives”
74.
Arguments of the State:
(a)
The provisions of Article 23(1) and 23(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the
Court, concerning the participation of the alleged victims have not been
complied with. In the communication of August 13, 2003 addressed to the
Secretary of the Court by Brooklyn Rivera, “the latter acknowledges that he has
not attached the powers of attorney in favor of CEJIL and CENIDH[,]”;
(b)
“On page seven of the Expansion of the Application, the signatories,
members of CEJIL and CENIDH, acknowledge the illegitimacy of their
representation” when they ask the Court “to request the State to submit the
official lists and allow [them] to present the powers of attorney of each of the
victims, when they have seen the official final list of candidates presented by
YATAMA in the RAAN and the RAAS for the 2000 municipal elections”;
(c)
The powers granted to CENIDH and CEJIL by the alleged victims contain
“evident violations of the Nicaraguan Notarial Act in force (art. 23(3) […]”;
(d)
“[I]t is one thing to have presented 64 powers of attorney, flawed or
correct, which [the Court] is empowered to accept as valid or to reject, and
quite another not to have presented powers of attorney, which constitutes
absolute lack of representation, and this is the point the State of Nicaragua is
raising in [this] objection.”
(e)
The representatives of the alleged victims “have not specified, much
less, the alleged circumstances that explain why they were unabe to obtain the
powers of attorney”; and
(f)
“With regard to the State of Nicaragua failing to provide assistance to
enable them to know exactly who the alleged victims are by facilitating the
official lists, in Nicaragua, Article 921 of the Code of Civil Procedure establishes
the legal procedures for obtaining documents or movables.”
75.
Arguments of the Commission
The Inter-American Commission asked the Court to “reject summarily” this preliminary
objection because it was “unfounded and time-barred,” and argued that:
(a)
The Inter-American Court has established that the proceedings before an
international human rights tribunal are not subject to the formalities of
domestic laws;
(b)
The State’s allegations that the powers of attorney granted to CEJIL and
CENIDH violate the Nicaraguan Notarial Act “are not admissible before an
international human rights court, since the Nicaraguan State knows who