-35146. The Court has also held that, in cases in which the circumstances do not indicate a
serious human rights violation under its case law, the infringement of the right to personal
integrity of the family members, as regards the pain and suffering that occurred, must be
proved.133 In the present case, the suffering of the family members of the alleged victims,
claimed by the Commission and the representatives, must be proved to find, if applicable, a
violation of the right to personal integrity of the family members as a violation distinct from
the alleged violation of other rights.
147. The Court notes that the arguments of the Commission and of the representatives on
the sufferings of the family members of the alleged victims refer, as a cause of such suffering
distinct from the death and injuries to the alleged victims, to the excessive length of the
criminal proceedings. With regard to the case against Sgt. Evangelista Pinedo, the Court notes
that there was not sufficient evidence to establish the additional suffering of the family
members.
148. Consequently, the Court holds that the State did not violate Article 5(1) of the
Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, to the detriment of the family members of Ms.
Tarazona Arrieta, Ms. Pérez Chávez and to that of Mr. Bejarano Laura due to the prolongation
of the criminal proceedings against Sgt. Evangelista Pinedo.
149. The Court refers to its prior considerations in which it indicated that it would not rule
on the alleged violation of the rights to life and personal integrity (supra paras. 133 to 139)
and that, for the reasons explained in those paragraphs, it will not rule on the suffering caused
to the family members by the death and injuries of the alleged victims.
VIII-4.
DUTY TO ADOPT PROVISIONS OF DOMESTIC LAW IN RELATION TO THE RIGHTS TO
LIFE AND PERSONAL INTEGRITY, AS WELL AS TO JUDICIAL GUARANTEES AND TO
JUDICIAL PROTECTION
(Article 2 of the American Convention, in relation to Articles 4, 5, 8 and 25)
A. Arguments of the parties and of the Commission
150. The Commission referred to the incompatibility of the amnesty law with the Convention
during its examination of the alleged violation of Articles 8 and 25.134 In its final written
observations, it argued that the State did not provide information on the “special measures
of prevention on the use of arbitrary force” and that, at the moment of the incident, there
existed “a lack of a normative framework and of practices and training […] that govern the
use of force” of State agents, in violation of Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention, in relation to
Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof.
151. The representatives maintained that the State did not comply with its obligation to
adapt its domestic law, pursuant to Article 2 of the American Convention, during the period
in which the amnesty law had a legal effect. They also argued that domestic legislation to
“determine the correct use of public force” did not exist when the incident of the present case
occurred. They added that the use of public force by the Armed Forces is now governed by
Legislative Decree Nº 1095 of 2009, whose “compatibility with the Politicial Constitution of
Cf. Case of Myrna Mack Chang v. Guatemala. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 25,
2003. Series C No. 101, para. 232 and Case of Luna López v. Honduras, para. 203.
133
The Commission argued that the violation of the rights of judicial guarantees and of judicial protection
recognized in Articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention should be read in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof.
134