Consequently, taking into account the willingness of the parties to reach an agreement, the
Court considers that the amounts awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage, and
medical and psychological treatment, should be distributed in conformity with the
indications of the representatives in their motions and arguments brief, in which they
considered that “the compensation should be delivered to the victim’s mother, wife and
daughter in equal parts.”
227. Furthermore, the Court observes that, in the reparations agreement, the State
undertook to pay this amount “during 2012.” Nevertheless, to date the Court has not
received any information on compliance with this payment, or on any progress made by the
State to comply with the commitment it assumed. Consequently, the Court urges
Guatemala to take the necessary steps, as soon as possible, to comply with payment of the
compensation in keeping with the commitments made in the agreement. If the State is
unable to make the payment within the agreed time frame, it must pay this amount within
six months at most of notification of this Judgment. The interest on arrears established in
paragraph 238 of this Judgment will begin to be calculated following the six-month period
established in this paragraph.
E) Costs and expenses
228. The representatives indicated that they had incurred expenses because they had
supported the members of Edgar Fernando García’s family during the proceedings at the
domestic level and before the inter-American system. In this regard, they stated that they
“waive charging all the said expenses, and ask[ed] the Inter-American Court to allocate
them a symbolic amount of Q. 500,000.00.”
229. In the agreement on reparations, the State “agreed to pay the sum of five hundred
thousand quetzals (Q. 500,000.00) requested by the GAM, as a symbolic contribution to the
work performed in favor of the case of Edgar Fernando García, and this will be paid in
2012.”
230. The Court reiterates that, according to its case law, 294 costs and expenses are part of
the concept of reparations, provided that the actions taken by the victims in their search for
justice, at both the national and international levels, involve expenditure that should be
compensated when the international responsibility of the State has been declared in a
judgment.
231. The Court assesses positively the State’s undertaking to reimburse the
representatives of the victims an amount for the costs and expenses incurred as a result of
the support they have provided to the members of Edgar Fernando García’s family for more
than 27 years in the search for justice at the domestic and international level; it therefore
endorses this measure, in the agreed terms. Consequently, the State must pay the Grupo
de Apoyo Mutuo the sum of Q. 500,000.00 (five hundred thousand quetzals).
232. The Court observes that, in the reparations agreement, the State undertook to pay
this amount “in 2012”; however, to date, the Court has not received any information on this
payment, or on any progress made by the State to comply with its commitment. Therefore,
the Court urges Guatemala to take any necessary measures, as soon as possible, to comply
with payment of costs and expenses, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement. If
the State is unable to reimburse the said amount within the agreed time frame, it must pay
294
Cf. Case of Garrido and Baigorria v. Argentina. Reparations and costs, supra, para. 79, and Case of the
Massacres of El Mozote and nearby places v. El Salvador, supra, para. 385.
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