who had threatened the Landaeta brothers before their death. 180 Also, one of the
eyewitnesses (Adeisa de la Trinidad Moffi García) indicated that she was the woman who
got out of the agents’ white car (supra para. 62). In this regard, July Zacarías stated
that she ran towards the agents to see what had happened and they told her that she
should go home. However, the police agents did not mention this situation. In addition,
the other witness (José Gregorio del Rosso Dona) indicated that he saw the incident
because he was passing through the area and that, the following day, when he learned
about the incident on the news, he decided to go and testify without being summoned by
the authorities. 181 Meanwhile, agent GACF stated that he and AJCG threw themselves on
the ground and fired from there, which does not concur with the trajectories of the
bullets in the body of Igmar Landaeta. Even though all these statements support the
hypothesis of the confrontation, they do not reveal clearly the sequence of the injuries
and how the shot in the nasal septum occurred, or how, following this, Igmar Landaeta
could still have been alive in order to be taken from the scene of the incident (infra para.
146). The State, in its defense before the Court, merely cited domestic procedures,
without either corroborating or disproving any of the versions. In this regard, the State
did not present consistent, congruent, reliable and sufficient evidence to consider that
the deployment of lethal force against Igmar Landaeta, in the circumstances of the
incident, was proportionate, or that the police agents who took part in the operation had
attempted other less lethal means. 182
141. Consequently, regardless of the complete reliability of such evidence, the narration
of the facts, and the probative elements, the Court notes that the use of lethal force
would not have been necessary, so that it finds that, in particular, the second shot
exceeded the proportionality of the use of force that could be used to achieve the
supposed objective sought, consisting in the detention and/or subduing of Igmar
Landaeta. Also, considering the above-mentioned problem of police abuse at the time of
the events and the threats made against the family by the same agents, the Court finds
that there are sufficient indications to consider that the second shot, when Igmar
Landaeta was lying on the ground, was deliberate.
142. The Court has established that when State agents use unlawful, excessive or
disproportionate force resulting in the loss of life, this is considered an arbitrary
deprivation of life. 183 Consequently, the death of Igmar Landaeta, caused while he was
being pursued, was the result of the disproportionate use of force owing to the actions of
the law enforcement agents, which constituted an arbitrary deprivation of life that can be
attributed to the State in violation of Article 4 of the American Convention, to the
detriment of Igmar Landaeta.
B.3 Actions following the incident: due diligence and humanity in relation
to the obligation to respect and ensure the right to life
180
July Esther Zacarías de Villanueva was the sister of Carlos Julio Zacarías Moreno and testified in favor of
the hypothesis of the confrontation of the police agents. Cf. Testimony of July Esther Zacarías de Villanueva of
November 19, 1996 (annexes to the answering brief, folio 9180). From statements made in the domestic
sphere, it can be inferred that July Esther Zacarías de Villanueva appears to have known the police agents
before the incident, and some eyewitnesses stated that they had seen her in the white car during the events.
July Zacarías denied these allegations (annexes to the answering brief, folios 9181, 9212 and 9282).
181
José Gregorio del Rosso Dona stated that, supposedly, he was in a brown car 50 meters from the scene
of the incident and saw what happened; he was asked if he was able to see any woman or women after Igmar
Landaeta had fallen to the ground injured, to which he responded that he only saw a woman who came out of
her house but who did not approach the scene of the incident. Cf. Testimony of José Gregorio del Rosso Dona
of November 19, 1996 (annexes to the answering brief, folio 9224).
182
89.
Cf. Case of Zambrano Vélez et al., supra, para. 110, and Case of Nadege Dorzema et al., supra, para.
183
Cf. Case of Montero Aranguren et al. (Retén de Catia), supra, para. 68, and Case of Nadege Dorzema et
al., supra, para. 92.
37