76
in other words, “the conditions necessary to ensure the adequate representation or
management of the interests or claims of those whose rights or obligations are under
judicial consideration.” 113
148. The Court will examine the alleged violations of Article 8 of the Convention.
It will begin with the right of appeal to a higher court, provided for in Article 8(2)(h)
of the Convention, then move on to the right to an impartial judge recognized in
Article 8(1) of the Convention, and finally the right to the presumption of innocence
established in Article 8(2) of the Convention.
149. Under Costa Rican law, the only remedy available to challenge a criminal
conviction is the writ of cassation, regulated under articles 443 to 451 of the Costa
Rican Code of Criminal Procedure.
150. Article 443 of the Costa Rican Code of Criminal Procedure provides that “the
writ of cassation shall be in order when the court’s order fails to observe or
misapplies some principle of the law.” Article 369 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
provides that the defects in a judgment that are grounds for cassation are as follows:
a) the accused is not adequately identified; b) the circumstances of the fact that the
court deemed to have been proved are lacking; c) the verdict is based on means or
elements of evidence not legally introduced in trial or introduced by being read, in
violation of the provisions of the Code; d) the arguments of the majority of the court
with regard to the means or elements of decisive evidence are lacking, insufficient or
contradictory, or fail to observe the rules governing reasoned judgment arrived at
freely and on the basis of admissible evidence, within the relevant legal framework;
e) the essential elements of the operative part of the judgment are missing; f) the
date of the act is either missing or cannot be determined, or the signature of some of
the judges is not present and it cannot be determined whether they participated in
the deliberations on the case, save for those exceptions that the law provides; g) the
rules for deliberating on and drafting the judgment were not observed; h) the rules
regarding the correlation between the judgment and the charge were not observed,
and i) the substantive law was either not observed or misapplied.
151. Article 445 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that the writ of
cassation shall be filed with the court that delivered the judgment, “by means of a
reasoned brief, which shall clearly cite the legal provisions that were not observed or
misapplied and explicitly state what claim is being made.” It states further that “each
cause and its legal grounds shall be listed individually.” Article 446 of the same Code
provides that once the corresponding time period has been set, the court in question
shall refer the case file to either the Third Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme
Court or to the Court of Criminal Cassation, depending upon which has territorial
jurisdiction. If it is the Third Chamber that takes cognizance of the writ of cassation,
then it shall be composed of five justices. If the case goes to the Court of Cassation,
it shall be composed of three judges.
Situations (Arts. 27(2), 25(1) and 7(6) American Convention on Human Rights). Advisory Opinion OC8/87 of January 30, 1987. Series A No. 8, para. 25.
113
Cf. Case of Maritza Urrutia, supra note 7, para. 118; Case of Myrna Mack-Chang, supra note 7,
para. 202; Case of Juan Humberto Sánchez, supra note 20, para. 124; and The Right to Information on
Consular Assistance. In the Framework of the Guarantees of the due Process of Law. Advisory Opinion OC16/99 of October 1, 1999. Series A No. 16, para. 118.
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