68. Lastly, the State affirmed that the representatives had indicated their “express
waiver of representing [Andrea Alezy] in this case.”
69. The representatives and the Commission indicated that the “preliminary issue”
presented by the State was, to the contrary, a question relating to the merits of the case
that concerned the assessment of the evidence. Nevertheless, the representatives and, to
a lesser extent, the Commission, referred to some aspects of the State’s arguments.
70. Regarding the Medina family, the representatives asserted that the difference in
name between Lilia Jean Pierre and Lilia Pérez is due to the fact that Haitians living in the
Dominican Republic tend to “latinize” their names.
71. In relation to Willian Medina Ferreras, both the representatives and the Commission
indicated that the photographs and video on which the State based its arguments (infra
paras. 127 and 128) are not admissible, because their presentation was time-barred. The
representatives also asserted that the principle of estoppel is applicable, because the
State, during the processing of the case before the Commission and in its answering brief,
had indicated that the presumed victim is Willian Medina Ferreras. In addition, the
representatives, in their written arguments, indicated that Willian Medina Ferreras was
being investigated on the basis of his statements before the Court; that is, in violation of
Article 53 of the Rules of Procedure. 54 However, it then stated that, “the State opened the
new investigation on September 26, 2013, in other words 12 days before this hearing was
held before the Court.” They also recalled that the State had “accepted” that “Willia[n]
Medina Ferreras, Awilda Medina [and] Luis Ney Medina […] are Dominican citizens.” 55
72. Regarding the person identified as “Juan Fils-Aimé” in the Merits report, the
representatives clarified that she is, in fact, “Juana Fils-Aimé.” Nevertheless, they
indicated that “based on the statement of Janise Midi […] before the Court, [they]
consider that [Juana Fils-Aimé] should not be considered a victim […], because she was
not living with the Fils-Aimé family at the time of their expulsion.”
73. They also stated that they had lost contact with Andrea Alezy and that they would
not present arguments with regard to her.
74. As for the person identified as “Ana Virginia Nolasco” in the Merits report, the
representatives explained that “her correct name in her mother tongue, Creole, is Ana
Virgil Nolasco, and her latinized name […] is Ana Virginia Nolasco.”
75. They also indicated, regarding the State’s objection to “María Esthel Matos Medina,”
that “Mrs. [Matos] Medina [is] the person with whom Rafaelito has ties of affection and,
therefore, it was she whose ‘right to physical and moral integrity’ was affected ‘owing to
suffering […] as a result of […] the violations perpetrated […].” Thus, it is irrelevant that
she does not appear as his mother in the birth records.”
76. The representatives also forwarded the Haitian identity documents of Bersson Gelin
and Jeanty Fils-Aimé that it had at that time. They repeated that Bersson Gelin was born
54
In addition, in their brief of April 10, 2014, they “advised the Court that the State ha[d] filed a criminal
complaint against Mr. Medina Ferreras on March 4, 2014,” and that “Willia[n] Medina Ferreras ha[d] forwarded
[them] the notification of the institution of an action to annul his birth certificate, considering that the data
provided was false.” A copy of this was forwarded to the Court.
55
Cf. Report of the Dominican Government of July 6, 2012, on the measures adopted to comply with the
Commission’s recommendations (file before the Commission, fs. 2165 to 2170).
25