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c) They requested full reparation of the “right to property of the RCTV employees who
are victims in this case owing to the pecuniary damage caused as a result of losing
their employment” owing to the non-renewal of the RCTV concession. They indicated
the amount for each person and indicated that this “should be adjusted to the date
on which payment is made.”
399.
In the case of the request for compensation for non-pecuniary damage, the
representatives indicated that “the closure of RCTV owing to non-renewal […] of the concession
by the State […] caused the victims a series of adverse psychological effects, anguish, suffering
and other non-pecuniary harm.” They asked the Court to grant the sum of US$25,000 to each
victim in this case for non-pecuniary damage.
400.
Regarding the request for compensation for pecuniary damage, the State submitted
the following arguments:
a) It underscored that, “in its Merits Report, the Commission established that the
property of the shareholders had not been harmed” and, therefore, it agreed with
the Commission and would not submit other arguments on the presumed damage
to property.
b) It rejected “the protection of interests of legal persons [in] this jurisdiction” in
“relation to the petitioners’ request for reparations for pecuniary damage.”
Regarding the concessions, the State argued that they are granted by “sovereign
States for those assets that are in the public domain, [and] the purpose and length
of all of them are [limited] pursuant to domestic law; in other words, anyone who
becomes a concessionaire by receiving from the State the right to exploit a specific
asset, in this case the radioelectric spectrum, has prior knowledge of the duration of
this concession and knows that he is subject to the State’s authority with regard to
the concession, and that the State can revoke it at any time based on social or
collective interest, or even decide not to renew it.” Consequently, it argued that “the
State’s actions cannot be penalized, by making pecuniary claims against it, when it
is exercising its sovereign right to organize the radioelectric spectrum in accordance
with the National Telecommunications Plan.” The State affirmed that “it is a blatant
abuse to ask the Inter-American Court […] to require reparation for the RCTV
shareholders based on a percentage of their shares for the financial prejudice caused
by the devaluation of the company.” Furthermore, it asked the Court to recall that
“the RCTV shareholders have radio concessions in Venezuela and RCTV had been
making a profit in the country from 1953 to 2007, that is for 54 years.”
c) It shared the opinion of the Commission when it concluded that “the petitioners have
not presented sufficient evidence of a direct effect on the personal property of the
shareholders presented as victims as a result of the State’s seizure of RCTV’s
tangible assets.” Consequently, the State concluded that it was exempt from
providing compensation for damage to the property of the RCTV shareholders and
that it owed nothing in relation to the interim measure granting it the RCTV assets.
d) In addition, it affirmed that “the employment situation of the personnel who worked
for [RCTV] cannot be attributed to the State, because the employment relationship
is established between the employer and the employee and is governed by the
Organic Labor Law.”