25 E. The situation of Mr. Lagos del Campo after his dismissal 71. At the time of his dismissal in 1989, Mr. Lagos del Campo was 50 years old and had 14 children, six of whom were of school age. According to the information provided by the representatives, and undisputed by the State, after his dismissal, Mr. Lagos del Campo was unable to access all the social security benefits that depended on his employment. Mr. Lagos underscored in the statement he gave during the public hearing that “according to the law, [he] would have been entitled to a decent subsistence pension in five more years,”99 having worked in the company for more than 13 years. The economic hardships of the times, his age, and the circumstances of his dismissal, prevented him from obtaining stable employment as an electrician and receiving adequate wages to support his family. 72. Mr. Lagos del Campo also stated during the hearing that his dismissal “resulted in harm to both [his] labor rights and [his] human rights” and added that, following his dismissal, he had no employment possibilities “because there were no jobs for workers who were over 50 years of age […] [s]o that there were no stable and profitable jobs to maintain a household and a family.” Nowadays, both his financial status100 and his health are precarious.101 VII MERITS 73. This case relates to the dismissal of Alfredo Lagos del Campo on June 26, 1989, as a result of statements made during an interview for the newspaper “La Razón.” This interview was given when he was president of the Electoral Committee of the Industrial Community of the company, Ceper-Pirelli, and in it he reported, inter alia, that the company’s Board had presumably used “blackmail and coercion” to hold “fraudulent elections outside the purview of the Electoral Committee” (supra para. 50). Following his dismissal, Mr. Lagos del Campo filed an action before the Fifteenth Labor Court of Lima, which classified the dismissals as “unfair and unjustified” (supra para. 58). However, following an appeal filed by the employer, the Second Labor Court of Lima reversed the first instance judgment and classified the dismissal as “legal and justified” (supra para. 60). Subsequently, Mr. Lagos del Campo filed several appeals which were declared inadmissible (supra paras. 61 to 70). 74. Based on the above, the Court must analyze whether the judgment of the Second Labor Court, that classified the dismissal of Mr. Lagos del Campo as “legal and justified,” respected the provisions of Article 13(2) and 8 of the American Convention by evaluating the need for the restriction imposed by a private individual and duly stating the reasons for its decision. In particular, the Court will examine whether the statements made by Mr. Lagos del Campo had enhanced protection owing to their context and his position as a representative, and also whether the judge who evaluated the said restriction gave proper consideration to these conditions when classifying the legality of the restriction. In addition, the Court must determine whether the sanction imposed, that was ratified by the judge, had an impact on the State’s obligation to ensure The reference to retirement relates to the “Law implementing the recommendations derived from the committees created by Laws No. 27452 and No. 27586 responsible for reviewing the collective dismissals from State companies subject to processes to promote private investment and from entities in the public sector and local governments.” Mr. Lagos also mentioned the following law: “I am owed all my social benefits and other rights that correspond to me under the law since 1976 in order to protect my right to retirement under Law No. 19990” (file of the procedure before the Commission, f. 151). 99 Cf. Certification of Poverty issued by the Blessed Sacrament Parish of the Archdiocese of Lima on September 10, 2003. Attachment to the petitioners’ brief of May 28, 2004; Letter requesting social assistance addressed by Mr. Lagos del Campo to the Ministry for Women and Social Development on April 21, 2005. Attachment to Mr. Lagos del Campo’s communication of June 2, 2005 (evidence file, annex 31 to the Merits Report, ff. 106 and 107). 100 In September 2014, Mr. Lagos del Campo had a hemorrhagic stroke that required him to be hospitalized for 20 days and left him with various aftereffects. 101