224. The State indicated that the visit “did not result in any administrative sanctions
against [Ms.] Atala, since the Court of Appeals of Temuco considered that her private
activities and her family life did not hinder her judicial work.”
Considerations of the Court
225. As mentioned previously (supra para. ¡Error! No se encuentra el origen de la
referencia.), Article 11 of the Convention prohibits any arbitrary or abusive interference
with the private life of persons, and therefore the realm of privacy is exempt and immune to
abusive or arbitrary intrusion or aggression by the public authorities251. According to the
Court’s jurisprudence, to determine whether there was arbitrary interference with private
life it is necessary to analyze, among other requirements, the legality and purpose of the
measure.
226.
In this case, Ms. Atala stated the following regarding the visit paid to her work place:
“the minister [Lillo] sat down at my desk, in my office, checked my personal computer, checked all the
websites I had visited. Afterwards he questioned all the staff members at the Court, one by one, and also
questioned the cleaning staff and then my fellow judges because I was member of a three-judge collegiate
and he went to the Court of Guarantees, because I was a member of the Oral Criminal Court. He
questioned the two judges there as well as the secretary of the Court of Villarrica. That is, he questioned 6
colleagues asking them whether or not I was a lesbian” 252.
227.
Faced with this treatment, Ms. Atala stated that:
“I felt deeply humiliated, exposed, as if I had been stripped naked and thrown into a public square”253.
228.
Ms. Atala also explained that, prior to the extraordinary visit, the Court of
Appeals of Temuco had sent the officials of the Court of Villarrica a questionnaire with
questions to investigate Ms. Atala’s sexual condition254. These statements were not
contested by the State.
229.
Specifically, the Court notes that in the report on Judge Lillo’s visit the following
facts were stated as conclusions: i) that Ms. Atala “began to be visited in her office by a
large number of women starting in mid 2002,”255 including her current partner “with whom
she would spend hours in her office;” ii) that she asked a court employee to “sketch a ring
based on some models she gave him[,]downloaded from the internet from a page called
“breaking the silence”, which was managed by sexual minorities;” iii) that Ms. Atala “was
visited at the Court by” her partner’s “parents” and that she introduced them “as her inlaws;” iv) that Ms. Atala used the Court’s fax “to send information about sexual minorities to
251
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres, supra note 177, para. 194 and Case Fontevecchia and D`Amico, supra
note 28, para. 48.
252
Statement by Ms. Karen Atala Riffo rendered before the Inter-American Court at a public hearing in the
present case.
253
Statement by Ms. Karen Atala Riffo rendered before the Inter-American Court at a public hearing in the
present case.
254
Statement by Ms. Karen Atala Riffo rendered before the Inter-American Court at a public hearing in the
present case.
255
Report prepared by Judge Lenin Lillo of the Court of Appeals of Temuco of April 2, 2003, supra note
¡Error! Marcador no definido., page 5933.
69