74
domestic judicial proceedings and those incurred by the victims or their families in their efforts to
discover the truth. In this regard, they requested that the State reimburse the costs and expenses
incurred by the victims and their representatives in the present case, which has involved them in
numerous expenditures to finance the national and international proceedings in pursuit of truth and
justice. Thus, they asked that the Court take into consideration the standards established in its
judgment in the Case of Contreras et al. at minimum, but also requested that it take into account the
prolonged harmful effects that continue over time. The State did not comment on that request.
Considerations of the Court
252. In its case law the Court has developed the concept of pecuniary damage and established
criteria for appropriate compensation. In particular, it has established that pecuniary damage
“involves the loss of or detriment to the victim’s income, the expenses incurred as a result of the
facts, and the monetary consequences that have a causal nexus with the facts of the case.”324
253. In this case, the representatives have requested that the Court set an amount for loss of
earnings and consequential damages in favor of the victims’ next of kin. In the section on costs and
expenses, the Court will also assess the financial expenditures made by the Search Association in the
course of searching for the victims in this case, since the outlay for certain items is also related to
expenses incurred in promoting the domestic investigations.
254. With regard to loss of earnings, as it has done in other cases of forced disappearance325 in
which a victim’s whereabouts are not known, the Court may award compensation for loss of income,
which includes the earnings that the victim would have received based on his probable lifetime.
Nevertheless, the Court notes an inconsistency in the representatives’ argument, since they are
requesting this compensation for the next of kin for the effects they allegedly suffered; however, they
considered that to calculate the amount due, they should take into account information related to the
victims of forced disappearance, who were children at the time of their initial disappearance.
Moreover, the representatives did not provide essential data such as life expectancy in El Salvador,
the income earned by the victims, their potential future income, or the possible salaries in the country,
to make that calculation. Consequently, the Court does not have sufficient elements to make that
determination, and therefore dismisses this aspect of the petition.
255. As to consequential damages, the Court considers that, given the search efforts carried out
directly by the victims’ next of kin in adverse situations, and the expenses they incurred as a result
of the effects they experienced due to the forced disappearances confirmed in this case, it is
reasonable to establish the following amounts for consequential damages:
Name
Rochac Hernández Family
Alfonso Hernández Herrera
Sebastián Rochac Hernández
Tanislao Rochac Hernández
María Juliana Rochac Hernández
María del Tránsito Hernández Rochac
Ana Margarita Hernández Rochac
Nicolás Alfonso Torres Hernández
Salinas Iraheta Family
Relationship
Father
Brother
Brother, deceased
Sister
Sister
Sister
Brother
Amount
US$
US$
US$
US$
US$
US$
US$
5,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
1,000.00
Cf. Case of Bámaca Velásquez v. Guatemala. Reparations and Costs. Judgment of February 22, 2002. Series C No. 91,
para. 43, and Case of the Human Rights Defender et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 266.
324
Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Reparations and costs, supra, paras. 46 and 47, and Case of Osorio
Rivera and Family v. Peru, supra, para. 280.
325