REPORT Nº 59/05 1 PETITION 381/04 ADMISSIBILITY MAGDALENA MERCEDES NAVARRETE, ALBERTO REYES NAVARRETE, VÍCTOR EDUARDO REYES NAVARRETE, PATRICIO HERNÁN REYES NAVARRETE, PAMELA ADRIANA VIVANCO, KATIA XIMENA DEL CARMEN ESPEJO GÓMEZ, ELENA ALEJANDRINA VARGAS GÓMEZ, ILIA MARÍA PRADENAS PÁEZ, MARIO MELO ACUÑA, CARLOS GUSTAVO MELO PRADENAS CHILE October 12, 2005 I. SUMMARY 1. On January 22, 2004 the lawyer Nelson Caucoto ("the petitioner") submitted a complaint to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ("the Commission") against the Republic of Chile ("the State") for the alleged violation of the rights to a fair trial (Article 8) and to judicial protection (Article 25), together with violation of the obligations to respect rights and to adopt appropriate measures (Articles 1.(1) and 2) established in the American Convention on Human Rights ("the American Convention"), for allegedly failing to provide reparation for damages suffered by the relatives of Mario Melo Pradenas, Ramón Luis Vivanco, Rodolfo Alejandro Espejo Gómez and Sergio Alfonso Reyes Navarrete, who were detained and subsequently disappeared at the hands of State agents during the military dictatorship. 2 2. With respect to the admissibility of the complaint, the petitioner argued that the action of the Chilean courts had closed off the possibility of access to justice and that the petition meets the requirements of form and substance for admissibility. In response, the Chilean State asked that the complaint be declared inadmissible, as totally out of order, because it deals with events that occurred before 1 Commissioner José Zalaquett, a Chilean national, did not participate in the discussion or decision of the case, in accordance with Article 17(2)(a) of the Commission's Rules of Procedure. 2 The petitioner also alleged violations of Articles 4, 5, 7, 24 and 63 (1), but these were not supported by the complaint. During its 119th session the Commission decided to open this case, among others, because of the alleged violation of the right to a fair trial. As explained in paragraph 19 (infra) below, the core of the petition refers to the rejection of judicial reparation and not to the summary execution of Messrs. Melo Pradenas, Vivanco, Espejo Gomez and Reyes Navarette. 1