REPORT Nº 63/04 PETITION 60/03 ADMISSIBILITY CARLOS ANTONIO LUNA LOPEZ HONDURAS October 13, 2004 I. SUMMARY 1. On January 13, 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (herinafter the “Commission”, the “Inter-American Commission”, or the “IACHR”) received a complaint lodged by the Center for Justice and International Law [Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional] and the Team for Reflection, Research and Communication [Equipo de Reflexión, Investigación, y Comunicación] (herinafter “the petitioners”). This complaint alleges that the Republic of Honduras (herinafter “Honduras”, the “Honduran State”, or the “State”) is responsible for the violation of Articles 4, 5(1), 5(2), 8(1), and 25(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (herinafter the “American Convention” or the “Convention”), to the detriment of Mr. Carlos Antonio Luna López (herinafter also the “alleged victim”), in relation to Article 1(1) of said international instrument. 2. The complaint states that the State is responsible for violating the right to life, judicial guarantees and protection of Mr. Carlos Antonio Luna López, as well as the right to the personal integrity of his family, all in conjunction with the obligations contained in Article 1.1 of the Convention. The petitioners claim that there is a pattern of extrajudicial executions of those defending the environment in Honduras, that the authorities have not carried out an effective investigation of the murder of Mr. Carlos Antonio Luna López that took place on May 18, 1998, and that, in addition, remedies available under domestic law have been ineffective in this case. With regard to the admissibility of the matter, the State claims that domestic remedies have not been exhausted in the present case and that the delay in the investigation was due to the fact that this is a complex case. 3. Having studied the positions of the parties, the Commission concludes that it is competent to decide on the claim lodged by the petitioners, and that the case is admissible under the terms of Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention. The Commission therefore decides to publish the present report in the Annual Report of the General Assembly of the OAS and to notify both parties. II. PROCESSING BY THE COMMISSION 4. On May 16, 2003, the IACHR proceeded to process petition No. 60/2003 in accordance with the Rules of Procedure in force since May 1, 2001, and communicated to the State the notice of the complaint, with a time limit of two months for the presentation of observations. 5. On July 17, 2003, the State presented its observations, which were transmitted to the petitioners on July 30, 2003. Due to a technical defect, the observations presented by the State were illegible when received by the Commission. The IACHR requested the State to send a legible version of its observations, which were received on December 9, 2003. 6. The observations of the State were transmitted to the petitioners on December 10, 2003. They were given 30 days to present a reply, which was received on January 12, 2004. On February 4, 2004, the IACHR transmitted to the State the response from the petitioners, informing the State that it had one month in which to make observations. At the request of the State, the Commission granted an extension of 30 days. The observations of the State were received in the Commission on May 3, 2004, and are the last communication in this file. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. Petitioners 1