norms and the American Convention, evidently within the framework of their respective terms
of reference and the corresponding procedural regulations. In this task, the judges and organs
involved in the administration of justice must take into account not only the treaty but also its
interpretation by the Inter-American Court, ultimate interpreter of the American
Convention.131 Therefore, when creating and interpreting the regulations that authorize the
police to carry out detentions without a court order or in flagrante delicto, the domestic
authorities, including the courts, are obliged to take into account the interpretation of the
American Convention made by the Inter-American Court that such detentions must be carried
out in compliance with the standards for personal liberty that have been reiterated in this
chapter.
101. Consequently, the Court concludes that both the Procedural Code, based on which the
car in which Mr. Fernández Prieto was travelling was intercepted, and the National Criminal
Procedural Code and Law 23,950, on the basis of which Mr. Tumbeiro was detained for
identification purposes, suffered from normative defects in the regulation of the situations that
supposedly authorized this police action. Despite this, in both cases, the judgements delivered
justified the police action based on these regulations. This constituted a violation of Article
7(1) and 7(2) of the Convention, in relation to Article 2 of this instrument.
B.2. Protection of honor and dignity
102. The Court has stipulated, with regard to Article 11 of the American Convention, that
although this provisions is entitled “Right to Privacy” [“Protection of honor and dignity” in the
Spanish version], its content includes, inter alia, the protection of private life.132 The Court
has affirmed that the sphere of personal and family privacy protected by this article is
characterized by being exempt or immune from interference or arbitrary or abusive intrusion
by third parties or public authorities.133 Consequently, the Court considers that the possessions
that a person is carrying when he is in a public place, even when that person is inside a car,
represent belongings that, similar to those that are to be found in his home, are included
within the sphere of protection of the right to private life and privacy. Therefore, they may
not be subjected to arbitrary interference by third parties or the authorities.
103. In the case of Mr. Fernández Prieto, the Court recalls that, on May 26, 1992, the car in
which he was travelling was intercepted by agents of the Police of the Province of Buenos
Aires, who searched it based on the presumed “suspicious behavior” of its occupants. The
Court recalls that the Procedural Code in force at the time of the incident did not contain any
specific provision that would have authorized the police officers to search the car without a
prior court order. Consequently, since any limitation of the right to privacy must, as a first
requirement in order not to be categorized as abusive or arbitrary, be “established by law 134
and, in this case, the inspection without a court order of a vehicle detained by a police control
was not expressly established in the procedural code in force, the Court considers that the
Cf. Case of Almonacid Arellano et al. v. Chile, supra, para. 124, and Case of Petro Urrego v. Colombia, supra,
para. 107.
131
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia, Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment
of July 1, 2006 Series C No. 148, para. 193, and Case of Azul Rojas Marín et al. v. Peru, supra, para. 141.
132
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia, supra, para. 194, and Gender Identity, and Equality and NonDiscrimination with regard to Same-Sex Couples. State Obligations in relation to Change of Name, Gender Identity,
and Rights deriving from a relationship between Same-Sex Couples (Interpretation and scope of Articles 1(1), 3, 7,
11(2), 13, 17, 18 and 24, in relation to Article 1, of the American Convention on Human Rights). Advisory Opinion
OC-24/17 of November 24, 2017. Series A No. 24, para. 86.
133
Cf. Case of Tristán Donoso v. Panama. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
January 27,,2009. Series C No. 193, para. 56.
134
33
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