REPORT Nº 70/05 PETITION 1231/04 ADMISSIBILITY INMATES AT MENDOZA PENITENTIARY ARGENTINA October 13, 2005 I. SUMMARY 1. On May 29, 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Commission” or the “IACHR”) received a petition submitted by various inmates at the Penitentiary of Mendoza alleging responsibility on the part of the Republic of Argentina (hereinafter “the State” or “the Argentine State”) for the violation of inmates’ rights to physical integrity, health and life. 2. On July 21, 2004, the Commission received a request filed via e-mail asking that precautionary measures be issued in this matter in favor of the inmates held at the Penitentiary of the Province of Mendoza and its related units, 1 alleging the State’s violation of Articles 4, 5(6), 1(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”). The original and attachments of this request were sent to the Commission on July 28, 2004. On that occasion, the inmates were represented by Alfredo Ramón Guevara, Diego Jorge Lavado, Pablo Gabriel Salinas, Carlos Eduardo Varela Álvarez and Alfredo Ramón Guevara Escayola, all of whom are attorneys. That request contained aspects of an urgent nature as well as broader requests that merited treatment within the system of individual petitions. The Commission decided to deal with the aspects relating to risks of irreparable harm to life or physical integrity through precautionary measures followed by provisional measures, and to deal with the other aspects as a petition. 3. In the course of processing the petitions, the Commission, utilizing its competence under Article 29(1)(d) of its Rules of Procedure, proceeded to join and process in the same file the initial petition and aspects of the request for precautionary measures that amounted to a petition. After the Commission analyzed the information received, the inmates of the Penitentiary of Mendoza and the Gustavo André de Lavalle Unit, along with their representatives, were identified as “the petitioners.” The joined petition was recorded under number 1231/04. 4. On November 12, 2004, the joined petition was forwarded to the State. For its part, the State deemed it pertinent not to express its views on potential objections relating to admissibility and/or the merits and limited itself to proposing a dialogue to explore a possible friendly settlement. However, as of the date of this report, the parties have not initiated a friendly settlement process in relation to this petition. 5. Without prejudging the merits of the complaint, the Commission concludes that it is competent to hear the petition relating to the alleged violations of the rights to life, personal integrity and health as contained in Articles 4 and 5 of the American Convention, with respect to the conditions under which inmates are detained at the Penitentiary of Mendoza and the Gustavo André Unit in Lavalle. The Commission will also analyze whether the Argentine State violated Articles 1, 2, 7 and 25 of the Convention as they relate to its obligation to ensure personal liberty, respect rights, adopt provisions in domestic law and ensure the competent authorities’ enforcement of remedies granted. II. PROCESSING BY THE COMMISSION 6. On November 12, 2004, the Commission began processing the joined petition of the inmates held at the Penitentiary of Mendoza and the Gustavo André Unit in Lavalle and on that same date transmitted to the State a copy of the pertinent sections of the petition, asking that 1 According to the request, the Penitentiary System of Mendoza has three locations: a) Provincial Penitentiary b) Prison for the Accused in San Rafael c) Vitale Nocera Unit in Lavalle. 1