67
accordance with the law and to respect the fundamental rights of each individual in
As guarantor of this right, the State must prevent those
its jurisdiction.”128
situations –such as the current sub judice one- that might lead, by action or
omission, to suppression of inviolability of the right to life. In this regard, if a person
was detained in good health conditions and subsequently died, the State has the
obligation to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation of what happened and
to disprove accusations regarding its responsibility, through valid evidence,129
because in its role as guarantor the State has the responsibility both of ensuring the
rights of the individual under its custody and of providing information and evidence
pertaining to what happened to the detainee.130
112. Likewise, the European Court of Human Rights has stated that safeguarding
the right to life implicitly requires the existence of an effective form of official
investigation when people die as the result of use of force by agents of the State.131
In this regard, it pointed out:
[the] general legal prohibition of arbitrary killing by the agents of the State would be
ineffective, in practice, if there existed no procedure for reviewing the lawfulness of the
use of lethal force by State authorities. The obligation to protect the right to life under
Article 2, read in conjunction with the State's general duty [...] to "secure to everyone
within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in [the] Convention", requires by
implication that there should be [an] effective official investigation when individuals have
been killed as a result of the use of force.132
113. In light of the above, the Court concludes that the State violated, to the
detriment of Juan Humberto Sánchez, Article 4(1) in combination with Article 1(1) of
the American Convention.
XI
VIOLATION OF ARTICLES 8 AND 25
IN COMBINATION WITH ARTICLE 1(1)
128
Bámaca Velásquez Case, supra note 25, para. 174; and cf. Durand and Ugarte Case, supra note
104, para. 69.
129
Eur. Court HR, Timurtas v. Turkey judgment of 13 June 2000, Reports of Judgments and
Decisions 2000-VI, para. 82; Eur. Court HR, Salman v. Turkey judgment of 27 June 2000, Reports of
Judgments and Decisions 2000-VII, para. 99; Las Palmeras Case. Judgment of December 6, 2001. Series
C No. 90, para. 42.b); Case of the Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community, supra note 3, para. 99;
Cantoral Benavides Case, supra note 103, para. 55; Durand and Ugarte Case, supra note 104, para. 65;
Gangaram Panday Case, supra note 104, para. 49; Godínez Cruz Case, supra note 33, para. 141; and
Velázquez Rodríguez Case, supra note 33, para. 135.
130
Cf. Durand and Ugarte Case, supra note 104, para. 65; Cantoral Benavides Case, supra note 103,
para. 55; and Bámaca Velásquez Case, supra note 25, paras. 152-153. Likewise, the European Court has
extensive case law: Eur. Court HR, Aksoy v. Turkey, supra note 106, para. 61; Eur. Court H.R., Ribitsch v.
Austria, supra note 116, para. 34 and Eur. Court H.R., Case of Tomasi v. France, supra note 116, paras.
108-111.
131
Cf. Eur. Court H.R., Case of Hugh Jordan v. the United Kingdom judgment of 4 May 2001, para.
105; Eur. Court H.R., Case of Çiçek v. Turkey judgment of 27 February 2001, para. 148; Eur. Court HR,
Mc Cann and Others v. the United Kingdom judgment of 27 September 1995, Series A no. 324, para. 161;
Eur. Court H.R., Kaya v. Turkey judgment of 19 February 1998, Reports of Judgments and Decisions
1998-I, para. 105.
132
Cf. Eur. Court H.R., Case of Hugh Jordan v. the United Kingdom, supra note 131, para. 105; Eur.
Court H.R., Case of Çiçek v. Turkey, supra note 131, para. 148; Eur. Court HR, Mc Cann and Others v. the
United Kingdom, supra note 131, para. 161; Eur. Court H.R., Kaya v. Turkey, supra note 131, para. 105.
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