- 94 303. The Court establishes, as it has in other cases,459 that the State must publish, within six
months of notification of this judgment: (a) the official summary of the judgment prepared by the
Court, once, in the official gazette; (b) the official summary of the judgment prepared by the Court,
once, in a national newspaper with widespread circulation, and (c) the judgment in its entirety,
available for one year on an official website.
C.3) Other measures requested
304. The Commission also asked the Court to require the State to “[m]ake the necessary
amendments to the law to ensure that disciplinary proceedings against judges are conducted by
competent authorities with sufficient guarantees of independence and impartiality; [and to] “ensure
that the grounds for disciplinary action against judges and the applicable sanctions are compatible
with the principle of legality.”
305. Meanwhile, the representatives asked the Court to order the State to: (i) “file the
corresponding criminal, civil or administrative charges against those responsible for the facts on
which this case is based”; (ii) organize a public act to acknowledge international responsibility and
make a public apology; (iii) implement a permanent training program for recently appointed agents
of justice to provide basic information on judicial independence, and respect for the free and full
exercise of their rights and obligations as judicial officials, and (iv) that the Court “reiterate to the
State its obligation implement a public policy (for the protection of human rights defenders] and
require that this policy include sufficient guarantees to protect the exercise of the human right to
defend human rights.”
306. They also asked the Court to order the State to take the necessary measures to guarantee a
disciplinary regime for judges that met the pertinent international standards. They indicated that,
under the current regime, the provisions on the prohibitions and incompatibilities relating to judicial
posts and the disciplinary regime “are insufficiently clear and specific, [because] the substantive
content of the articles in force is almost the same as the articles that were annulled.” In addition,
they indicated that the actual law merely refers to three general situations that can result in the
suspension of judicial employees and officials, as well as some general prohibitions for judges and
justices. They also indicated that the section corresponding to the disciplinary responsibility of
officials and judges merely refers to the appeal for reconsideration that may be filed against the
decision issued in the disciplinary proceeding, while the substantiation of the proceeding, the
violations and the corresponding sanctions are “delegated to the regulations governing the Law on
the Council of the Judiciary and the Judicial Service to be drawn up and approved by that body,
which has not happened to date.” In addition, the representatives argued that some norms still
subsist that were not expressly annulled; namely, those established in the Law on the Organization
and Faculties of the Courts and the Code of Ethics for Judicial Officials and Employees.
307. Regarding this measure, the Court notes that, in Honduras, the disciplinary regime applied to
the presumed victims has been amended. It recalls, however, that it is not incumbent on the Court
to review, in the abstract, norms that were not applied or that did not have any impact on the
violations declared in a specific case.460 In the instant case, the new disciplinary regime was not
applied to the victims, and there is no evidence that its possible applicable could have a direct
459
Cf. Case of Cantoral Benavides v. Peru. Reparations and costs. Judgment of December 3, 2001. Series C No. 88,
para. 79, and Case of Omar Humberto Maldonado Vargas et al. v. Chile, supra, para. 162.
460
Cf. Case of Genie Lacayo v. Nicaragua. Preliminary objections. Judgment of January 27, 1995. Series C No. 21,
para. 50, and Case of Rodríguez Vera et al. (the Disappeared from the Palace of Justice) v. Colombia. Preliminary objections,
merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 14, 2015. Series C No. 287, para. 64.