failure to comply with the obligation established in Article 2 of the Convention39, all as
alleged by the Commission. In order to determine the scope of those violations, the
Court will first set forth the non-disputed facts related to this chapter and later specify
the human rights violations derived therefrom.
A)
Non-disputed facts.
57.
The facts in this Chapter cover: 1) Mr. Iván Eladio Torres Millacura’s personal and
family information; 2) the pattern of police abuse in the Province of Chubut; 3) Mr.
Torres Millacura’s detentions in September 2003; and 4) the detention and subsequent
enforced disappearance of Mr. Torres starting on October 3, 2003.
A.1.
Personal and family information on Iván Eladio Torres Millacura.
58.
According to the facts acknowledged by the State, Mr. Iván Eladio Torres
Millacura was born in Castro, Chile, on November 24, 1976. At the time the facts in this
case took place, he was living with his mother, María Leontina Millacura Llaipén, his
sister, Fabiola Valeria Torres, and his sister’s daughter, Evelyn Paola Caba, in the city of
Comodoro Rivadavia, Province of Chubut, Argentina. Mr. Torres Millacura was the bread
winner for his mother, sister, and niece. He worked in construction, sometimes together
with his brother, Marcos Alejandro Torres Millacura, although at the time of his
disappearance, he was unemployed.
59.
Mr. Torres Millacura met with his friends on streets and in plazas in Comodoro
Rivadavia’s downtown. He was frequently detained, threatened, and beaten by city
police. On several occasions, the detentions were carried out based on Law 815, the
“Organic Policing Law” of the Province of Chubut, which regulates inquiries into
individuals’ criminal records and means of living. At the time of his enforced
disappearance, Mr. Torres Millacura was 26 years old.
A.2.
Practice of police abuse in the Province of Chubut.
60.
The State acknowledged that in the Province of Chubut, police abuse occurred to
the detriment of poor young people. It was in the context of these abuses that the
detentions of Mr. Torres Millacura by the police took place in September 2003, as did his
detention and subsequent enforced disappearance starting in October 3, 2003, in the
city of Comodoro Rivadavia, located in the aforementioned Province. The Tribunal
observes that in her expert witness statement during the public hearing (supra para.
40), Mrs. Sofía Tiscornia referred extensively to the “permanent harassment”
perpetrated by the Chubut Provincial police under the protection of misdemeanor laws or
for inquires into criminal records or identity. The expert witness stated that “the laws
empowering police to repeatedly detain people can many times result in death, torture,
or, as in this case, a disappearance,” impacting “the least protected segments of
society.” Thus, she indicated that:
young people from poor neighborhoods [meet] in central parts of the city[, and it is] there where
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other
social condition.
39
This Article establish that:
Where the exercise of any of the rights or freedoms referred to in Article 1 is not already
ensured by legislative or other provisions, the States Parties undertake to adopt, in accordance
with their constitutional processes and the provisions of this Convention, such legislative or
other measures as may be necessary to give effect to those rights or freedoms.
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