10
cases of forced disappearance of persons who are not yet known to be alive or dead;
thus, only identification via DNA testing allows us to say that the whereabouts of the
disappeared person have been established. In the case of Santa Bárbara, the
whereabouts and sad fate of the fifteen victims is known.
Unnecessary classification
25.
Finally, the classification of the crime as forced disappearance is unnecessary.
Perhaps it was done in the belief that this was the only way to achieve certain results
linked to the permanent nature of the disappearance, particularly with regard to the
statute of limitations and the ongoing duty to continue making every possible effort to
identify the remains found. In reality, this is not so.
26.
In the first place, the events that occurred at the "Misteriosa" mine have already
been classified domestically as a crime against humanity and, consequently, it has been
determined that they are not subject to any statute of limitations.
27.
Secondly, there is still an obligation to carry out, with due diligence and with the
best technical means, the effort to identify the remains found.
III.
CONCLUSION
28.
Based on the foregoing considerations, it may be concluded that the description
of the facts of the case naturally leads us to characterize them as a massacre or mass
extrajudicial execution, and in no way allows us to classify them as forced disappearance.
The classification made by the Court is incompatible with the acceptance of the State’s
partial acknowledgement of responsibility and is manifestly unfounded and unnecessary
for the proper legal consideration of such terrible and macabre facts as those of this
case.
Alberto Pérez Pérez
Pablo Saavedra Alessandri
Registrar