12
VI
PRIOR CONSIDERATIONS
Determination of the alleged victims in the present case
41.
This Tribunal finds it relevant to determine who must be considered as the alleged
victims in this case. In the first paragraph and the foot note on page 1 of the petition, the
Commission identified as alleged victims Florencio Chitay Nech and his children:
Encarnación, Pedro, Eliseo, Estermerio, and María Rosaura, all with the last name of Chitay
Rodríguez. In the Report on Merits, the Commission indicated as alleged victims Florencio
Chitay and his next of kin. Nevertheless, the Commission, both in the public hearing as
well as in its final written arguments, requested the Court to consider Marta Rodríguez
Quex, the wife of Mr. Chitay Nech, who died on February 26, 1999,22 as an alleged victim
for the violation of Articles 5, 17, 8, and 25 of the Convention, “given that the spirit of the
Report on Merits and of the petition was to include all the members of the Chitay Rodriguez
family.” On the other hand, in the written brief of pleadings and motions, the
representatives also indicated that Marta and Amada, the sister-in-law of Mr. Chitay Nech,
both with the last name of Rodriguez Quex, were alleged victims of the supposed
violations. Subsequently, at the public hearing and in its final written arguments, the
representatives requested that the community of San Martín Jilotepeque be included as a
alleged victim of the violations of human rights.
42.
In its response to the petition, the State did not refer expressly to the identity of
the alleged victims in the present case, but indicated that Amada Rodriguez Quex was not
to be included within the beneficiaries of the economic reparations, in virtue of the fact that
the written brief of pleadings and motions “at no moment states Amada is a victim of the
supposed violation committed by the State, but rather that she was a witness.”
43.
The Tribunal pointed out that in the Report on the Merits No. 90/08, the
Commission noted that the alleged victims of the case were Florencio Chitay Nech and his
next of kin, without specifying who was included within the expression “next of kin.”
Nevertheless, in the petition, the Commission clarified that “it
[would] utilize the
expression ‘victim’ only to refer to Florencio Chitay Nech and ‘next of kin of the victim’ to
refer to his sons and daughter.” The Court observes that the Commission did not argue the
existence of difficulties in the timely determination of all the next of kin of Mr. Chitay Nech
as alleged victims.23
44.
The Tribunal has established in its jurisprudence that the alleged victims must be
stated in the petition, which must correspond with the Commission’s Report to which
Article 50 of the Convention makes reference. In addition, in accordance with Article 34(1)
of the Rules of Procedure of the Court, it corresponds to the Commission rather than to this
Tribunal to identify with precision, at the appropriate procedural opportunity, the alleged
victims in a case before this Court.24 Judicial security demands, as a general rule, that all
22
Cf. Certificate of Death of Marta Rodríguez Quex processed by the Civil Registrar of the Republic of
Guatemala, No. 1842839 written in book 61, act 117, folio 213 (anexos to the brief on motions and pleadings,
annnex 11, f. 1377).
23
24
Cf. Case Radilla Pacheco V. México, supra note 12, para. 110.
Cf. Case of the Ituango MassacreV. Colombia. Preliminary Exception, Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of 1 of July of 2006. Series C No. 148, para. 98; Case Radilla Pacheco V. México, supra note 12, para.
108, and Case Of the Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, supra note 12, para. 20.