60
94.
It should be noted that, notwithstanding the following considerations (below paras.
155-7), the State expressed that “it understands that the duty to administer justice consists
of investigating and punishing each person who has taken part in the criminal events in La
Cantuta. To that extent, the State will abide by the decisions of the Court regarding to the
investigation, identification and punishment of those liable for ordering the commission of
international crimes, such as the ones under review in the instant case.” Furthermore, the
State pointed out that the acknowledged facts “amount to international illicit events [and, in
turn,] to crimes under local legislation, and that these international crimes must be
prosecuted by the State.”
95.
The facts of this case have been classified by the CVR, domestic judicial bodies and
by the State’s representative before this Court, as “international crimes” and “crimes
against humanity” (above paras. 42, 44, 94 and 80(68)). The extra-legal execution and
forced disappearance of alleged victims were perpetrated in the context of a generalized
and systematic attack against sectors of the civil population.93
96.
Suffice it to mention here that the Court considers it acknowledged and proven that
the planning and execution of detention and subsequent cruel, inhumane and degrading
treatment, extra-legal execution and forced disappearance of alleged victims, carried out in
a coordinated and concealed way by the members of military forces and the Colina Group,
could not have passed unnoticed to or have occurred without the orders of the superior
ranks of the Executive Power and the then military forces and intelligence bodies, especially
the chiefs of intelligence and the same President of the Republic himself. Hence, the
conclusion to which this Court has recently arrived in the case of Goiburú et al. vs. Paraguay
is of full application to this case:
State agents not only failed to comply with their duties to preserve and protect the rights of
alleged victims, contemplated in Article 1(1) of the American Convention, but also used their
official tenures and resources granted by the State to commit said violations. As State, its
institutions, mechanisms and powers had to function as a guarantee of protection against the
criminal actions performed by its agents. However, state power was actually used as a means
and resource to commit violations of the rights they should have respected and guaranteed […]94
97.
The victims in the present case, as well as many other persons of that time, suffered
from the application of practices and methods in complete disregard of human rights,
meticulously planned, systematized and executed from the lines of the State, in many
aspects similar to the ones used by the terrorist or subversive groups they meant to fight
against under the justification of counter-terrorism or “counter-subversion.”
98.
The Court has considered it adequate to start this chapter by stating that the context
within which the facts took place tints and conditions the international responsibility of the
93
Cf. Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, “The Colina Military Post”, “The Actions of the
Congress of the Republic”, “Year 2000: the reopening of proceedings under ordinary civil system”, in the extralegal executions of university students from La Cantuta (1992) CVRanswer to application (main file, volume II,
page 519); written closing pleadings submitted by the State (main file, volume IV, page 892); complaint presented
by the Ad hoc Prosecutor, Ronal Gamarra, as Appendix to Note of the State No. 7-5-M-432, December 14, 2004
(record of Appendixes to application, Appendix 42(d), page 1550), and report No. 001-2006/MP/FPEDCDD.HH of
the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in crimes against human rights, October 10, 2006 (record of
Appendixes to final written closing pleadings submitted by the State, Appendix 3, p. 3791).
94
Cf. Case of Goiburú et al., above note 1, para. 66.
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