observed that, on April 7, 2003, after the judgment had been delivered, the victims,
through their representative, filed another criminal complaint against two individuals for
allegedly committing the offenses of “omission, refusal and delay of acts that fell within
their functions, undue delay in payments, abuse of authority, misappropriation and
violence, and resisting authority” to their detriment. In response, on April 6, 2004, the
Prosecutor General’s Office decided not to open an investigation into the reported facts
and, on October 18, 2004, the First Transitory Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of
Justice declared the inadmissibility of the subsequent appeal filed by the victim Javier
Mujica Ruiz Huidobro against this decision.12 Hence, in the said order of November 24,
2009, the Court concluded that the victims had exhausted the legal actions and remedies
available in the criminal investigations they had initiated in this matter, having reached
the highest competent judicial body.13
14.
In this regard, the Court underlines that, although it has verified that the victims
exercised the domestic criminal remedies, this does not mean that the Court is declaring
that the State has complied with the judgment as regards this reparation. On the
contrary, having verified that, apart from processing the complaints filed by the victims
themselves, the State did not adopt all the measures required to ensure a thorough
investigation into the facts in order to determine, as appropriate, the respective
responsibilities, in its order of November 24, 2009, the Court required the State to
provide information on all the measures it had taken to comply with this obligation.
Specifically, the Court asked the State to provide information on how the decisions taken
to date by its authorities had responded to the Court’s rulings in this regard.14
15.
Despite this, the State has not submitted the information requested or offered the
corresponding explanations to clarify whether the rulings of the criminal courts rejecting
the complaints filed by the victims took into consideration the provisions of the Court’s
judgment. Consequently, the Court reiterates to the State the said request for
information in relation to the criminal proceedings filed by the victims, so that it can
assess compliance with this measure.
16.
Moreover, bearing in mind that, to date, the State’s actions have been limited to
processing the criminal complaints filed by the victims themselves, the Court finds it
necessary to recall that, in the context of monitoring compliance with this measure, it
must assess the State’s implementation, through all its powers and organs, of the
provisions of the judgment. Thus, the actions brought by the victims in this regard are
relevant to the overall analysis of the status of implementation of this measure of
reparation, but in no way substitute the measures the State must take to comply with the
obligation to conduct the corresponding criminal investigations.
a.2.
Regarding other investigations
17.
Although the State argued that the “investigations aimed at punishing those
presumed to be responsible for contempt of court [are only] of a criminal nature,” it also
recognized that its domestic law provides for the possibility of disciplinary sanctions
against an official who “[d]elays compliance with higher or administrative orders, or
disputes their decisions” (supra sixth and seventh considering paragraphs). In addition,
the Court recalls that the State itself, in the decisions of the Superintendence of Banks
and Insurance (hereinafter “SBS”) of March 2002, established that “the courts had issued
admonitions requiring compliance with the [1995] SBS decisions which, if not complied
12
Cf. Case of Five Pensioners v. Peru. Monitoring compliance with judgment, supra note 8, thirteenth
considering paragraph.
13
Cf. Case of Five Pensioners v. Peru. Monitoring compliance with judgment, supra note 8, fourteenth
considering paragraph.
14
Cf. Case of Five Pensioners v. Peru. Monitoring compliance with judgment, supra note 8, fourteenth
considering paragraph.
5