the Convention and did not provide effective judicial protection of the alleged victim’s right to
freedom of expression. Therefore, the State also violated Article 25(1) of the Convention.
144. Although the representatives asked the Court to declare the violation of Article 25(1)
of the American Convention, they did not put forward specific arguments in this regard and
did not cite this article in their petition.
145. The State reiterated its preliminary objection regarding the alleged serious
infringement of its right of defense. It indicated that it has complied with its international
obligations regarding the right to judicial protection, established in Article 25(1) of the
American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof. It pointed out that the dismissal of
an action filed before the domestic courts does not necessarily imply a violation of the right
to judicial protection. It considered that the appeal for annulment filed by Mr. Baraona was a
suitable mechanism in the Chilean criminal procedural system to invalidate the oral trial and
the sentence when there is a substantial infringement of constitutional rights or guarantees
related to the formalities of the trial or to the facts that had been considered proven, allowing
for a review of the limits to the assessment of the evidence imposed by the rules of sound
judgment.
146. It further argued that in this case the Supreme Court “responded to Mr. Carlos
Baraona’s objections to the first instance judgment on the alleged infringement of freedom of
expression, by referring to the inadmissibility of the exceptio veritatis […] The judgment of
the Supreme Court demonstrates that it took into account the arguments of the parties, ruled
on the conflict of rights, and also gave reasons for its decision by rejecting the appellant's
arguments.” It also argued that the Supreme Court weighed the right to freedom of
expression against the rights of third parties. Therefore, the alleged victim had the appropriate
means to defend himself in the criminal proceedings, thus safeguarding the balance afforded
by the domestic legal system to protect both rights. In addition, the State considered that
the Supreme Court’s alleged failure to exercise control of conventionality was inadmissible,
because there is no express international obligation in the American Convention, or in any
other treaty ratified by Chile, that requires the domestic courts to apply the Inter-American
Court’s interpretation in cases other than those in which the State has been convicted. The
State reiterated that the aforementioned argument regarding control of conventionality is
inadmissible for temporal reasons. It also alleged that the Commission confuses freedom of
opinion with freedom of information. Thus, it made an error in stating that the information
provided by Mr. Carlos Baraona regarding the alleged improper actions of former Senator SP,
particularly, the discussion of the illegal logging of the alerce tree in Chile, need not be
truthful. Therefore, it argued that freedom of opinion does not require that the statements or
expressions be truthful; however, in the case of freedom of information, at least a certain
burden of veracity or plausibility is applicable.
B. Considerations of the Court
147. Article 25(1) of the Convention requires that all persons under the jurisdiction of the
State be guaranteed an effective judicial remedy against acts that violate their fundamental
rights.167 Such effectiveness presupposes that, in addition to the formal existence of remedies,
the latter provide results or responses to the violations of rights established either in the
Convention, the Constitution or in the laws.168 This means that the remedy must be suitable
Cf. Case of Cuya Lavy et al. v. Peru. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of
September 28, 2021. Series C No. 438. para. 170, and Case of Mina Cuero v. Ecuador, supra, para. 116.
168
Cf. Judicial Guarantees in States of Emergency (Arts. 27(2), 25 and 8 American Convention on Human Rights).
Advisory Opinion OC-9/87 of October 6, 1987. Series A No. 9, para. 24, and Case of Mina Cuero v. Ecuador, supra,
para. 116.
167
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