ORDER OF THE
INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
OF AUGUST 26, 2002
PROVISIONAL MEASURES REGARDING
THE REPUBLIC OF COSTA RICA
“LA NACIÓN” NEWSPAPER CASE
HAVING SEEN:
1.
The facts stated in the “Having seen” paragraphs of the December 6, 2001
Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Court” or “the
Inter-American Court”).
2.
The September 7, 2001 Order of the Court, in which it decided:
1.
To order the State of Costa Rica to adopt forthwith those measures necessary
to suspend the entry of Mauricio Herrera Ulloa’s name in the Judiciary’s Record of
Convicted Felons until such time as the bodies of the inter-American system for the
protection of human rights have arrived at a final decision on his case.
2.
To order the State of Costa Rica to suspend the order for La Nación to publish
the “Therefore” portion of the conviction handed down by the San José First Circuit
Criminal Trial Court on November 12, 1999, and to suspend the order to create a “link”
at the La Nación Digital website between the disputed articles and the operative part of
that court ruling.
3.
To order the State of Costa Rica to inform the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, within 30 days of notification of this Order, of the measures it has taken
pursuant to the order, and to call upon the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
to submit its observations on that report within 30 days of receiving it.
3.
The brief filed on July 30, 2002, in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
State of Costa Rica (hereinafter “the State” or “Costa Rica”) forwarded the rogatory
letter issued on June 27, 2002 by the Examining Justice of the Criminal Court of the
First Judicial Circuit of San José. According to the letter rogatory, on June 17, 2002
the Trial Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José ordered that the InterAmerican Court be consulted about “whether the Provisional Measures adopted then
in the case of the daily ‘La Nación’ refer [to] the whole judgment, both criminal and
civil, or whether they refer only to the criminal judgment.”
CONSIDERING:
1.
Costa Rica has been a State Party to the American Convention since April 8,
1970, and it accepted binding jurisdiction of the Court on July 2, 1980.
2.
Article 63(2) of the Convention stipules that: