4
list “would openly contradict the decision adopted by [the Inter-American
Court] on November 25, 2006, and would irremediably prevent effective
compliance with the reparations ordered by the Court, the ultimate aim of
which is to restore victims to the full exercise of their rights.” In this
alternative request, the representatives asked the Tribunal to: i) “[a]dopt
such measures as it may deem necessary to prevent Peruvian authorities
from publishing the names and photographs of [those they represent], in
order not to hinder or frustrate compliance with the judgment entered on
November 25, 2006”; ii) “[o]rder the State to refrain from taking any other
action which may frustrate, in general terms, compliance with the above
mentioned judgment”; and iii) “[r]equire the State to submit, as soon as
possible, the information needed to determine and guarantee that no
measures falling under any of the categories above will be taken.”
4.
The brief of January 14, 2008, and its annexes, whereby the State submitted
its comments on the request for provisional measures. In its brief, the State held,
among other arguments, that:
a) regarding the “alleged acts of aggression”, these are “past facts”, occurred in
2005 and 2006; that “the State learned about said facts [through the request
for provisional measures], and, in the case of the first two alleged acts, it
learned about them 25 months after they took place. The third alleged act of
aggression happened more recently, but, similarly, it was communicated to
the [...] Court 20 months after it took place.” Likewise, “the attention of the
State is drawn to the fact that these purportedly serious events, even if
confirmed, were not reported until recently, which contradicts the situation of
extreme gravity and urgency that would warrant the granting of Provisional
Measures […]”. Finally, it expressed that the alleged attack on Mr. Antonio
Melquíades Ponce-Hilario “is not described in full” and that the furnished
information does not suffice to “ascribe the fact to a State agent.” It points
out that “[t]he same omissions” can be found in the description of the alleged
act of aggression against Mr. Víctor Hugo Castillo-Mezzich. It noted that the
facts were not denounced to competent State authorities and that they
occurred before the Court delivered its Judgment. In the case of the acts
against Mrs. Madelein Valle-Rivera, it held that, as the representatives
admitted in their brief, a request for provisional measures regarding the same
facts has already been submitted, which request was dismissed by the InterAmerican Court;
b) regarding “the spreading of certain information through private means of
communication”, and, specifically, in relation to the unauthorized filming of
certain persons declared victims by the Tribunal and the fact that they were
mentioned by means of communication, the State remarked that “they prove
that in the country there exists unrestrained freedom of expression, which
also allows the recording and dissemination of opinions which are different
from, contrary to and critical of those expressed by some top State officials
regarding the publication of the names of persons who were prosecuted or
convicted for the crime of terrorism and later released.” It emphasized that
“both the owners of the means of communication that broadcast the
information and opinions and the journalists involved according to the request
submitted to the Court […] are not related to the State”. It held that while
some information and opinions may affect the sensitivity and even the honor