133
Pleadings of the representatives
297. The representatives asserted that the pain and suffering of the victims and
their next of kin were evident. They reasoned as follows:
a)
the children endured the inhumane detention conditions, the
indignities of their treatment and the constant threat of danger, as they were
housed in adult penal institutions. They also suffered the after-effects of the
successive fires in which inmates were injured and burned.
The
representatives therefore asked the Court to order, in equity, a sum to
compensate for the “severe psychological impact,” the “protracted and
complex trauma”, and the devastating consequences that all the children
experienced due to the detention conditions, torture and abuse, which left
them with feelings of bitterness, resentment, humiliation, depression,
handicapped, a sense of powerlessness, vulnerability and violence;
b)
the State neither conducted an inquiry nor promptly punished those
responsible for the human rights violations that occurred; and
c)
because of the difficulties in making contact with the former inmates
and their next of kin, the representatives were of the view that the amount
that the Court ordered should take into account the kinship with the children
who were detained at the center. In the case of Teofista Domínguez, Felipa
Valdez, Dionicio Vega and Rosalía Figueredo, the representatives asked the
Court to fix compensation based on their testimony before the Court.
Pleadings of the State
298. The State’s argument was that inasmuch as it had not violated the right to life
(Article 4 of the Convention) –save for the responsibility it acknowledged in the
death of the juvenile Benito Augusto Adorno- or the right to personal liberty (Article
7 of the Convention), or the right to a fair trial (Article 8 of the Convention), in
relation to Article 1(1) of the Convention, no international responsibility can be
attributed to it for violation of the provisions of the Convention or of any other
international instrument. Hence, it has no obligation to make reparations.
Considerations of the Court
299. Time and time again, international case law has established that the
judgment constitutes, per se, a form of reparation.212 However, owing to the
circumstances of the instant case, the suffering caused to the persons declared as
victims in the instant case, the altered circumstances of the injured former inmates
and the next of kin of the deceased and injured inmates, and the other
consequences of a non-material or non-pecuniary nature that they suffered, the
Court considers that based on the principle of equity, compensation for nonpecuniary damages is in order.213
212
Cf. Case of the Gómez Paquiyauri Brothers, supra note 26, para. 215; Case of the 19 Tradesmen,
supra note 26, para. 247; and Case of Maritza Urrutia, supra note 57, para. 166.
213
Supra note 212.
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