a) Regarding the victims to which the 8-month term established in paragraph 433(d)
applies
63.
In paragraphs 334 and following of the Judgment, the Court established the
reasons why it concluded that the facts of the case constituted a violation to the right
to humane treatment of certain next of kin of the inmates of the Miguel Castro Castro
Prison. The next of kin declared victims therein, with the only exception of some of the
underage children of the inmates, were identified in Appendix 2 of the Judgment. Since
the Court was not aware of the identity of all the inmates’ children, they were granted
an 8-month term to appear before the competent state authorities, prove their
relationship and age, and receive the corresponding compensation. The
representatives requested a clarification regarding the situation of the next of kin of
the inmates that were not declared victims in the Judgment and they asked if they can
be compared to the situation of the inmates’ children that at the time of the facts were
under the age of 18 in order to grant them the same 8-month term so they may
appear before the national authorities and prove the alleged condition of victim.
64.
As can be concluded from the reading of the corresponding paragraphs of the
Judgment on merits, reparations, and costs and from the aforementioned, these are
different suppositions and therefore clearly differentiated by the Tribunal. On one
hand, in the case of the next of kin regarding which it was proven before the Court
that they were outside the prison between May 6 and 9, 1992 and who witnessed the
attack, or had to visit hospitals and morgues searching for their next of kin, or who
suffered due to the strict solitary confinement and restriction of visits applied to the
inmates, the Tribunal concluded that they suffered a violation to their right to humane
treatment. The individual situation of these persons was analyzed and proven in the
correct procedural moment before the Court. From the evidence provided by the
parties to the process the result was a closed number of those next of kin declared
victims and identified in Appendix 2 of the Judgment. The possible existence of next of
kin that were not declared victims by the Court and regarding which it could be argued
that they lived or were submitted to one of the factual suppositions mentioned that
determined the breach of the right to humane treatment, this should have been proven
in the appropriate procedural moment, specifically during the processing of the merits
of the case.
65.
On the other hand, the situation of the children under the age of 18 of the
inmates of the Castro Castro Prison is different. The Court declared a violation of
Article 5 of the Convention in detriment of every person who at the time of the facts
was the underage child of an inmate because it understood that “the deprivation of
contact and relationships with their inmate mothers,” as a consequence of the
measures of solitary confinement applied by the State, violated the right to humane
treatment of said children. The Court granted them an 8-month term to the mere
effect of proving their relationship and age, since their condition of victims was
established in the Judgment. What was suggested by the representatives (supra para.
58 subparagraph a) would open the possibility that other family members who the
Court did not declare victims and that therefore are not considered in paragraph
433(d) or identified in Appendix II be considered as such, which is not established in
the Judgment issued in the present case.
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