their purpose349. Additionally, the provisions governing the independence of the judicial
order must be made in an appropriate way so as to ensure the timely execution of the
judgments without any interference by other branches of Government350 and guarantee the
binding and obligatory nature of the decisions of last resort.351 The Court considers that in a
system based on the principle of rule of law, all public authorities, within the framework of
their jurisdiction, must take heed of judicial decisions and promote their execution without
hindering the purpose and scope of the decision or unduly delaying its implementation.352
212. The Court considers that in the instant case, it has been proven that, after an
unjustified delay in the civil suit for damages (supra para. 205), Sebastián Furlán had to
begin a second administrative proceeding in order to obtain payment of the compensation
awarded in the judgment. Notwithstanding the fact that the length of said enforcement
process has already been analyzed in the preceding chapter (supra para. 147 to 152), the
Court will examine the following arguments: i) whether the judgment was implemented in
its entirety; ii) whether the application of Law 25.344 on economic- financial emergency
was justified in the instant case, and iii) whether the foregoing had an impact on the right to
property.
213. In the first place, the Court notes that the compensation awarded in favor of
Sebastián Furlán was framed within Law 23.982 of 1991 (supra para. 103), for which he
had to decide between two forms of payment: i) deferred payment in cash, or ii) payment in
consolidated Bonds which could be redeemed in 16 years. Either of these two options meant
that Sebastián Furlán was not able to immediately receive the sum of 130,000 Argentine
pesos as compensation in his favor, but instead had to choose between the payment of a
sum of money in installments or payment in bonds, for which he could only obtain their
nominal value after 16 years. In this respect, it has been proven that due to his difficult
financial circumstances (supra para. 104, 117) and the need to rapidly collect the money in
order to pay for medical care (supra para. 71)353, Sebastián Furlan opted for the payment in
consolidated bonds in national currency to be redeemed in 2016 (supra para. 104). This
Court further notes that after the bonds were paid to the beneficiary, Mr. Danilo Furlan
cashed them in at 33% of their nominal value. After paying the amount that he was
required to pay in court costs and legal fees based on the 30-70% responsibility assigned in
the judgment and subtracting 30 percent that corresponded to the lawyer, Sebastián Furlan
finally received 116,063 pesos awarded in bonds, equivalent to approximately $38.000
Argentine pesos, of the 130,000 Argentine pesos ordered in the judgment.
214. Bearing these facts in mind, the Court considers that the judgment that awarded the
compensation was not fully implemented, given that Sebastián Furlan should have received
130,000 Argentine pesos whereas he actually received approximately $38,000 Argentine
349
Cf. Case of Mejía Idrovo v. Ecuador, para. 106. Cf. Advisory Opinion No.13 (2010) On the role of judges in
the enforcement of judicial decisions, Conclusions, H).
350
Cf. Case of Mejía Idrovo v. Ecuador, para. 106. Cf. Advisory Opinion No. 13 (2010) On the role of judges
in the enforcement of judicial decisions, Conclusions, F), See also ECHR, Case of Matheus v. France, paras. 58 and
subsq.
351
Cf. Case of Mejía Idrovo v. Ecuador, para. 106. This means that compliance is mandatory, and that if they
are not obeyed voluntarily, may be enforced coercively.
352
Cf. Case of Mejía Idrovo v. Ecuador, para. 106. The European Court has established in the case of
Inmobiliare Saffi v. Italy that: “While it may be accepted that Contracting States may [...] intervene in proceedings
for the enforcement of a judicial decision, the consequence of such intervention should not be that execution is
prevented, invalidated or unduly delayed or, still less, that the substance of the decision is undermined”. Cf. ECHR,
Case of Inmobiliare Saffi v. Italy, para. 74.
353
Testimony of Claudio Furlan, rendered at the public hearing on February 27, 2012.
68
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