h)
The State would not adopt protective measures in favor of the proposed
beneficiaries, despite the respective internal complaints already filed; therefore,
given that Mrs. Sanchez Ortiz continues working as a human rights defender, the
threats issued against her life and personal integrity and her family could
materialize.
i)
The life and personal integrity of the Legal Coordinator of the Venezuelan
Prisons Observatory and her family, as well as her capacity to continue working in
defense of human rights, constitute an extreme of irreparability with regard to
the consequences, which the request for expansion of provisional measures seeks
to avoid.
8.
In light of the aforementioned factual situation and in accordance with the terms
of Article 63(2) of the American Convention, Article 27 of the Rules of Procedure of the
Court and Article 76 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, the Commission
requested the Court to expand the provisional measures and order the Venezuelan
State:
a)
To adopt forthwith all the measures necessary to guarantee the life and
personal integrity of Marianela Sánchez Ortiz, her husband Hernan Antonio
Bolivar and her children, Andrea Antonela Bolivar Sánchez and Anthony Alberto
Bolivar Sánchez;
b)
To adopt all the measures necessary so that Mrs. Marianela Sánchez Ortiz
is able to continue working in the promotion and defense of human rights in
Venezuela, as Legal Coordinator of the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory.
c)
To order that, in the implementation process of the provisional measures,
the coordination of the design and execution thereof must be carried out in
common agreement with the proposed beneficiaries and their representatives;
d)
To continue informing the Court on the implementation of the provisional
measures to be adopted in favor of the proposed beneficiaries, and
e)
To report on the actions taken in order to shed light on the source of the
threats issued against the life and personal integrity of Marianela Sanchez Ortiz
and her family.
After the granting of three time limits and upon expiration of the term granted for
the presentation of its observations (supra having seen paragraphs 5 to 8), the State
requested to dismiss the request for expansion of provisional measures, based on the
following arguments:
9.
a)
Regarding the facts that took place in the vicinity of the Venezuelan
Prisons Observatory and the surrounding area of “La Planta” prison (supra
considering paragraphs 6(c) and 6(e)), the Public Prosecutor’s Office was
requested to conduct a comprehensive search of its files and victims assistance
units, in order to determine whether Marianela Sanchez had brought the facts
already mentioned before the competent authorities’ attention, given that this is
the correct way in which government bodies carry out the corresponding
investigation and adopt the protective measures according to the case. According
to the results of the search conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office,
specifically the Victims Assistance Unit assigned to the Public Prosecutor’s Office
of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, there was no petition, complaint or request
for investigation related to Marianela Sanchez or Hernan Antonio Bolivar;
6