49 parameters. Based on all of the above mentioned, they concluded that the State violated Articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 of the treaty. Moreover, given that the State did not adopt effective measures to avoid, prevent, and punish acts of torture suffered by the disappeared persons, it violated Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. 130. The State requested the Court to recognize all the actions taken in the domestic forum and shared its considerations on the process of political transition and the evolution of the handling of the matter as of the alleged applications by Brazilian society. The amnesty concession is usually justified by the perception that the punishment of the crimes against human rights, once the hostilities ended, can come to represent an obstacle in the transition process, perpetuating a climate of distrust and rivalry between various national political groups in the nation, to which in periods such as this, alternative means to criminal persecution are sought to reach a national reconciliation as a way of adjusting the necessities of justice and peace, such as patrimonial reparation of victims and their next of kin and the establishment of truth commissions. The Amnesty Law was approved in this specific context of transition to democracy and of a need for national reconciliation, for which the State requested “precaution” in applying in Brazil the specific solutions adopted by the Commission and the Court for other States. As such, it highlighted that the Amnesty Law was preceded by a public debate, aside from being “considered by many as an important step in the national reconciliation process.” 131. In relation to the arguments of the Commission and the representatives regarding the alleged obligation to not apply the established rules on statute of limitations and non-retroactivity of the criminal law, Brazil argued that the only constitutional hypotheses where the rule on the non-applicability of the statute of limitations is allowed is in regard to the practice of racism and armed groups that disrupt constitutional order and the Democratic State. The American Convention recognizes in Article 9 the principles of legality and non-retroactivity and the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons “recognizes in Article VII, expressly, the statute of limitations for said crimes.” On the other hand, it reported that the codification of the crimes against humanity occurred in 1998 with the approval of the Rome Statute, and it indicated that international custom cannot be a source that creates criminal legal standards given that it does not offer legal certainty, as laws do in the strictest sense. The principle of legality is one of the winning principles in the field of human rights, as such, constitutes an ironclad clause of the Brazilian Constitution that cannot be abolished, including via constitutional amendment, and thus requested the Court to apply this. 132. In addition, the State argued that all human rights should be guaranteed in an equal manner and, as such, harmony should be sought between the principles and rights established in the American Convention with the aid of the principle of proportionality. In the present case, there is an apparent collision between the principle of guarantee of non-repetition from which the obligation of the State to promote the criminal persecution of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity stems, and the principle of legality. It considered that the best option to safeguard the colliding principles is the full respect of Article 9 and the satisfactory respect of Article 1, both of the American Convention. As a consequence, the Court must consider that the measures already adopted by the State are sufficient, given that the other option would imply complete ignorance of the principle of legality. 133. Finally, the State highlighted the bilateralness and reciprocity of the amnesty laws as distinctive characteristics, given that it did not encompass only

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