20
case, subsequent to the presentation of the brief in response to the application.
Although Article 38(1) of the Court Rules of Procedure establishes that the
procedural moment for the interposition of preliminary objections is in the brief in
response to the application, the Court considers that the judgment of the Federal
Supreme Tribunal of April 29, 2010, constitutes a supervening fact (infra para.
58) and, as such, it corresponds that the Court rule on said State argument. The
Commission and the representatives of the victims had an opportunity to present
their arguments regarding this preliminary objection both in the public hearing
and in the final written arguments, and thus their right to defense has been
guaranteed.
48.
The lawsuit brought by the Inter-American Commission does not seek to
review the judgment of the Federal Supreme Tribunal, a decision which had not
even been issued when said organ presented the application to the InterAmerican Court, but rather it seeks to establish whether the State violated
specific international obligations enshrined in the various rules of the American
Convention to the detriment of the alleged victims, including, inter alia, the right
to not be subjected to a enforced disappearance, derived from Articles 3, 4, 5,
and 7 of the American Convention, the right to judicial protection, and the judicial
guarantees so as to ascertain the facts and determine the individual
responsibilities of said facts derived from Articles 8 and 25 of the American
Convention.
49.
On numerous occasions, the Court has held that ascertaining whether the
State violated its international obligations by means of its actions before its
judicial organs, can lead to this Court examining the particular domestic
procedures, eventually including the decisions of the higher courts, so as to
establish the compatibility with the American Convention.44 In the present case,
the Inter-American Court is not called to carry out an analysis of the Amnesty
Law in relation with the National Constitution of a State, an analysis of domestic
law which is not of its jurisdiction, and which is an issue of the Non-compliance
Action No. 153 (infra para. 136), but rather it must assess a conventional control,
namely to assess the alleged non-compatibility of said law with Brazil’s
international obligations pursuant to the American Convention. As a consequence,
the arguments in regard to the objections are matters related directly with the
merits of the controversy, which can be examined by the Court under American
Convention, without contravening the rule of the “fourth instance.” As such, the
Court dismisses this preliminary objection.
IV
JURISDICTION
50.
The Inter-American Court has jurisdiction to hear this case under Article
62(3) of the Convention, because Brazil has been a State Party to the American
Convention since September 25, 1992, and accepted the contentious jurisdiction
of the Court on December 10, 1998.
44
Cf. Case of the “Street Children” (Villagrán-Morales et al.) v. Guatemala. Merits. Judgment of
November 19, 1999. Series C No. 63, para. 222; Case of Escher et al., supra note 27, para. 44, and
Case of Dacosta Cadogan, supra note 35, para. 12.