procedural stage for the Commission to present expert evidence is during the
submission of the case, with an additional period of 21 days to forward the
corresponding attachments, in accordance with Article 28 of the Rules. This
requirement was observed by the Commission. However, the Commission’s supporting
arguments regarding the “inter-American public interest” in the instant case were only
submitted together with its observations to the preliminary objections filed by the
State and in its definitive list of deponents. The foregoing does not significantly affect
the principle of equality between the parties or the State’s right to defense, since the
latter had an opportunity to submit any observations deemed pertinent regarding
those arguments in its observations to the definitive lists of deponents. Moreover, it is
also the proper procedural moment for submitting observations or objections to the
deponents offered by any of the other parties in the case, according to Article 46(2) of
the Rules of Procedure. Therefore, as has occurred in other cases2, the President
admits the aforementioned arguments presented by the Inter-American Commission in
its brief of observations to the preliminary objections and in its definitive list,
subsequent to the submission of the case, and shall take these into consideration
when assessing the admissibility of the respective expert opinion.
9.
Furthermore, regarding the link between the object of the expert opinion of
Laura Cecilia Pautassi and the inter-American public order, the President takes note of
the Commission’s observation that said expert report refers “to the obligations to
protect and promote human rights, in situations resulting in permanent after-effects
and continuous deterioration of health,” which transcend the victims in this case. In
this sense, this Presidency notes that the object of that expert opinion would facilitate
an analysis of international standards on “access to justice and its relationship with the
right to health [and] due diligence in […] cases of this type.” In view of the foregoing,
the President considers that the analysis of the State’s obligations in relation to due
diligence, and the efficacy of investigations and the corresponding legal proceedings,
specifically in cases that affect the right to health in a permanent way, may have an
impact on situations that arise in other States Parties to the Convention. Thus, the
object of this expert report is a matter that affects the inter-American public order and
transcends this case and the specific interest of the parties in litigation.
10.
Based on the foregoing considerations, the President considers it appropriate to
admit the expert opinion of Laura Cecilia Pautassi, proposed by the Inter-American
Commission, and recalls that the value of said opinion shall be assessed in due course,
within the context of the body of evidence and according to the rules of sound
judgment. The object and manner in which that expert opinion shall be rendered are
specified in the operative section of this Order (infra operative paragraph 5).
2. Request to transfer the expert opinions provided in the case Albán Cornejo et
al. v. Ecuador
11.
In its brief submitting the case, the Commission requested that the expert
opinions provided by Ernesto Albán Gómez and Raúl Moscoso Álvarez, in the case of
Albán Cornejo et al. v. Ecuador (supra Having Seen 1), be included in the case file,
where appropriate.
2
Cf. Case of Contreras et al. v. El Salvador, Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights of April 14, 2011, Considering paragraph 10, and Case of Vélez Restrepo and Family v.
Colombia. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of January 25, 2012,
Considering paragraph 13.
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