123. The representatives asked the Court to also order the State to: “c. Present before
the Congress of the Nation a bill reforming the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Nation so
that it is mandatory in all criminal cases in which State security forces took part or where
the security forces members are suspects for the Court to provide all evidence requested by
the Public Prosecutor's Office. When the evidence is requested by the complaint, the Judge
may only deny it in a properly-justified decision and following transfer of the matter to the
Prosecutor's Office for it to express whether it is in favor of or against releasing the evidence.
In the event that the Office of the Prosecutor deems its release inappropriate, it must provide
justification, and the complainant shall be able to appeal it to a higher court than the forum
denying it” and "d. Issue the pertinent legal norms so that every citizen has the right to
access the internal report files of police officers, regardless of who filed the complaint or if
they were a victim, since they are 'public officials' and therefore the information about their
conduct must also be public ”.
124. Regarding this point, the Court finds that in situations such as this case, the
cooperation of justice institutions is essential for an effective search for the truth. The
creation of PROCUVIN is a wise step to guarantee a better and more objective investigation
into the actions of the security forces. The existence of a body of the Office of the Prosecutor
specializing in matters of institutionalized violence addresses the aims stated by the
representatives, so the Court does not consider it necessary to order changes to the law.
125. Regarding the rest of the measures requested by the Commission and the
representatives for satisfaction, such as the publication of the public hearing and the erection
of a monument, the Court considers that the delivery of this judgment and the reparations
ordered in this chapter are sufficient and adequate to redress the violations suffered by the
victims. Therefore, it does not consider it necessary to order these additional measures,
without prejudice to whether the State may decide to adopt and grant them domestically.
E.2. Measures of non-repetition
126. Regarding the guarantees of non-repetition, the representatives, taking into
consideration that “the police Edicts that authorized detentions based on an individual’s
attitude and characteristics […] were repealed and replaced by the Urban Coexistence
Code,” and that “recent years have seen significant setbacks in this area with security forces
once again granted discretionary powers to arrest and use of force–even lethal force–on
people without proper judicial control,” they asked that the State “e.4 […] adapt domestic
law to guarantee that arbitrary detentions based on racial profiling and extrajudicial
executions do not take place.”
127. The State highlighted that, indeed, "more recently, other rules that the previous
national government administration sought to impose that encouraged the police to act
indiscriminately were repealed by the new administration of the Ministry of Security of the
Nation." However, during the public hearing, the State made reference to the fact that
certain police edicts are still in force in some provinces of the country under laws that have
other names but the same codification problems.
128. This Court underscores the effort made by the State to purge the provisions in its legal
system that could encourage indiscriminate police action, particularly the ones in force in
the City of Buenos Aires. Effectively, in March 1998, the Legislature of the City of Buenos
Aires passed the Urban Coexistence Code,162 which involved removing the Federal Police's
power to detain people under police orders. Currently, this area is governed by the
162
Law No. 10 of March 9, 1998.
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