40
[…] as regards military criminal rules, […] such rules shall establish clearly and without ambiguities,
inter alia, any typical criminal behaviors particular to the military forum and shall determine the
nature of any illicit behavior by describing the damage or how it jeopardizes the military juridical
benefits that have been seriously attacked, so that the exercise of a military punitive power is
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justified, as well as specifying the corresponding sanction. .
167.
The IACHR observes that it is so difficult to determine the limit between the offenses that
can be heard by the military or the ordinary jurisdiction, that on the one hand, Article 382 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure empowers the Supreme Court of Justice to designate judges when “the judges of the
preliminary hearing and the correctional or criminal courts, as well as police courts that do not come
under the jurisdiction of either, are considering the same offense, or related offenses or the same
violation.” Likewise, Article y 28 of Law No. 834 of July 15, 1978, establishes that “if the same case is
pending in two courts of equal rank and equally competent to hear it, the second court to be petitioned
must cede to the other if one of the parties so requests”.
168.
In that regard, the Inter-American Court has established that:
The possibility that the military courts prosecute any soldier who is accused of an ordinary crime,
for the mere fact of being in service, implies that the jurisdiction is granted due to the mere
circumstance of being a soldier. In that sense, even when the crime is committed by soldiers while
they are still in service or based on acts of the same, this is not enough for their knowledge to
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correspond to the military criminal justice.
169.
Last, the IACHR observes that the Supreme Court of Justice would be empowered to
interpret the scope of Article 3 of the Armed Forces Code of Justice as it has done with regard to other
similar provisions (supra)182. However, the evidence in the case file does not indicate that, to date, said
tribunal has made such interpretation.
170.
Therefore, the Commission concludes that the Dominican State failed to comply with the
obligation established in Article 2 of the American Convention in connection with Articles 8 and 25 of the
same instrument, in extending the competence of the military jurisdiction to offenses that do not bear any
direct relation to military discipline or to the legal rights of the armed forces.
4.
Right to personal integrity (Article 5 of the Convention), in connection to Article 1(1) of the
same instrument to the detriment of the relatives of the victims
171.
With regard to the relatives of Jacqueline Maxime, Fritz Alce, Roselene Theremeus,
Ilfaudia Dorzema, Pardis Fortilus y Nadege Dorzema and Máximo Rubén de Jesús Espinal, the
Commission would llike to reiterate that on several occasions, the inter-American Court has stated that
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“the relatives of the victims of human rights violations may be victims themselves.”
172.
With regard to arbitrary and extra-legal executions specifically, the Court has said that “no
proof is needed to demonstrate the serious impact to the psychic integrity of the relatives of the victims
executed.”184 Based on the preceding, with regard to the pain and suffering experienced by the relatives
killed in extra-legal executions, the Commission, consistent with the jurisprudence of the Inter-American
180
IA Court H.R. Case Usón Ramírez vs. Venezuela. Preliminary Exception, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of
November 20, 2009. Series C No. 207, par. 55 and IA Court H.R., Case Palamara Iribarne vs. Chile. Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of November 22, 2005. Series C No. 135, par. 126.
181
IA Court H.R., Case Radilla Pacheco vs. Mexico. Judgment of Preliminary Exceptions, merits, reparations and costs.
November 23, 2009, par. 286.
182
Judgment of December 26, 2001, available at http://www.suprema.gov.do/novedades/sentencias/tyson.htm
183
IA Court H.R., Case Castillo Páez. Reparations (art. 63.1 American Convention on Human Rights). Judgment of
November 27, 1998. Series C No. 43, par. 88. Also see IA Court H.R., Case of the Pueblo Bello Massacre. Judgment of January 31,
2006. Series C No. 140, par. 154.
184
IA Court H.R., Case of the Ituango Massacres vs. Colombia. Preliminary Exception, Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of July 1, 2006. Series C No. 148, par. 262. Also see IA Court H.R., Case of the Mapiripán Massacre vs. Colombia.
Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of September 15, 2005. Series C No. 134, par.146.