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1 Inter-American Court of Human Rights Case of Castañeda Gutman v. México Judgment of August 6, 2008 (Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs) In the case of Castañeda Gutman the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (hereinafter the Inter-American Court or the Court ), composed of the following judges: * also present, Cecilia Medina Quiroga, President Diego García-Sayán, Vice President Manuel E. Ventura Robles, Judge Leonardo A. Franco, Judge Margarette May Macaulay, Judge Rhadys Abreu Blondet, Judge, and Claus Werner von Wobeser Hoepfner, Judge ad hoc Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Secretary, and Emilia Segares Rodríguez, Deputy Secretary, pursuant to Articles 62(3) and 63(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the Convention or the American Convention ) and Articles 29, 31, 53(2), 55, 56 and 58 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court (hereinafter the Rules of Procedure ), delivers the following judgment. I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND PURPOSE OF THE DISPUTE 1. On March 21, 2007, in accordance with Articles 51 and 61 of the American Convention, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the Commission or the Inter-American Commission ) lodged before the Court an application against the United Mexican States (hereinafter the State or Mexico ), which originated in the petition submitted on October 12, 2005, by Jorge Castañeda Gutman. On October 26, 2006, the Commission adopted Report on admissibility and merits No. 113/06, in the terms of Article 50 of the Convention, which contained certain recommendations for the State. This report was notified to the State on December 21, 2006, which was given two months to report on the actions taken to implement the Commission s recommendations. After considering the State s [brief] on implementation of the recommendations contained in the report on merits, and the failure to make any progress in complying with them, the * On May 7, 2007, Judge Sergio García Ramírez, a Mexican national, recused himself from hearing this case in the terms of Articles 19(2) of the Statute and 19 of the Rules of Procedure; the Court accepted his recusal.
2 2 Commission decided to submit the case to the jurisdiction of the Court. The Commission appointed Florentín Meléndez, Commissioner, and Santiago A. Canton, Executive Secretary, as delegates and the lawyers, Ariel E. Dulitzky, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Juan Pablo Albán Alencastro and Mario López Garelli as legal advisers. 2. According to the Commission, the application relates to the inexistence in the domestic sphere of a simple and effective remedy to claim the constitutionality of political rights and the consequent impediment for Jorge Castañeda Gutman [ ] to register his independent candidacy for the presidency of Mexico in the elections held in July In the application, the Commission asked the Court to declare that Mexico is responsible for the violation, to the detriment of Jorge Castañeda Gutman, of the right to judicial protection embodied in Article 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to the general obligations to respect and ensure human rights and to adopt all legislative or other measures to make the protected rights effective, in accordance with Articles 1(1) and 2 of the Convention. The Commission also asked the Court to order the State to adopt certain measures of reparation and to reimburse costs and expenses. 4. On June 5, 2007 Jorge Castañeda Gutman, alleged victim in the instant case, and his representatives, Fabián M. Aguinaco, Gonzalo Aguilar Zínser and Santiago Corcuera (hereinafter the alleged victim or, indistinctly, the representatives ), presented their brief with pleas and motions (hereinafter brief with pleas and motions ), under Article 23 of the Rules of Procedure. In this brief, they asked the Court, based on the facts described by the Commission in its application, to declare the violation of the rights to participate in government, to equal protection, and to judicial protection established in Articles 23, 24, and 25 of the American Convention, all in relation to Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof. Mr. Castañeda Gutman also indicated that, if the Court considered that they had omitted possible violations to other rights embodied in the Convention [ ] such as those established in Articles 1, 2, 8(1), 13, 16, 29 and 30 of the Convention [in their brief], the Court should issue a ruling in this regard. Lastly, he asked the Court to order measures of reparation for the violation of his rights. 5. On September 11, 2007, the State submitted a brief in which it filed preliminary objections, answered the application, and presented observations on the brief with pleas and motions. The State requested, inter alia, that the Court consider that the preliminary objections it had filed were admissible and founded [ ] and, consequently, declare that it was not competent to hear and decide this case; or, if applicable, that the Court conclude and declare the inexistence of violations to the human rights established in the American Convention [ ], or eventually, if it declared the State s responsibility and decided that some type of reparation was appropriate, that the Court establish this respecting the considerations and the limits established by the State. The State appointed Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco as its Agent, and Joel Antonio Hernández García, María Carmen Oñate Muñoz and Alejandro Negrín Muñoz as Deputy Agents. 1 II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT 1 Cf. the State s brief of May 31, 2007, received on June 1, 2007 (merits file, tome I, folios 108 to 110).
3 3 6. The Commission s application was notified to the State and to the representatives on May 14, During the proceedings before the Court, in addition to the presentation of the principal briefs forwarded by the parties (supra paras. 1, 4 and 5), and the briefs with arguments concerning the preliminary objections filed by the State, which the representatives and the Commission submitted on October 17 and 18, 2007, respectively, the parties remitted the briefs indicated below. 7. On November 27, 2007, the State forwarded a brief in which: (a) it submitted its observations on the written arguments of the Inter-American Commission and the representatives on the preliminary objections; (b) it submitted its observations on the supervening information offered by the alleged victim as an appendix to his brief with arguments on the preliminary objections; and (c) it offered supervening information regarding the constitutional reform on electoral matters published in the official gazette of November 13, At the request of the Secretariat of the Court, on the instructions of the President, the Commission and the representatives forwarded their respective observations on the information provided by the State on December 14 and 15, 2007, but only with regard to the constitutional reform of electoral matters. On January 22, 2008, the State forwarded observations on the brief presented by the Inter-American Commission on the constitutional reform. 8. Regarding the offer of testimonial and expert evidence, in addition to the opportune offer made by the Commission and the State, on October 24, 2007, when responding to the Secretariat s request for submission of the definitive list of witnesses and expert witnesses, the representatives confirm[ed] the designation of the expert witnesses proposed [ ] in [their] brief of January 19, 2007, addressed to the Commission, [ ] which is included as appendix 2 to the application filed [ ] by the Commission before the Court. Furthermore, they indicated that the curriculum vitae of the expert witnesses offered were provided by the Inter-American Commission as an appendix to the application, and they made no mention in any of these briefs to the purpose of the expert opinions offered. On November 2 and 7, 2007, at the request of the President of the Court, the representatives forwarded the purpose of the expert opinions and the testimony of the alleged victim. 9. In this regard, on November 14, 2007, the State requested the Court to reject the participation of the persons indicated by [the representatives] as expert witnesses, because the offer does not comply with the requirements [ ] established in the Rules of Procedure, and to declare that the testimony of the alleged victim had not been offered within the appropriate time frame and in the correct form; the State also indicated that the [representatives] had not specified their claims concerning reparations at the appropriate procedural opportunity. 10. In its Order of November 30, 2007, the Court decided to reject the offer of expert evidence offered by the representatives after the statutory time limit had expired and, of the persons the representatives had offered, to summon only the alleged victim, in the understanding that his testimony was useful for deciding the instant case (infra para. 72). Also, in the said Order of November 30, 2007, the Court convened the Commission, the representatives and the State to a public hearing to receive the testimony of Jorge Castañeda Gutman, proposed by the representatives, and the expert opinion of Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, proposed by the Inter-American Commission, and to hear the final oral 2 On May 11, 2007, the State was advised that it could appoint a judge ad hoc to participate in hearing this case. On May 15, 2007, the Inter-American Commission stated that the figure of judge ad hoc is not applicable in cases arising from petitions concerning human rights violations submitted by individuals. On June 8, 2007, the State appointed Claus Werner von Wobeser Hoepfner as judge ad hoc, and the latter accepted the appointment on June 28, 2007.
4 4 arguments of the parties on the preliminary objections and possible merits, reparations and costs. On December 14, 2007, the Commission advised that it desisted from providing the expert evidence offered. On January 30, 2008, the State asked the Court to consider the possibility of redistributing the stages of the public hearing in order to make a distinction between a first stage with arguments on preliminary objections and a second stage with arguments on possible merits, reparations and costs; this was accepted by the Court. Also, on February 6, 2008, the representatives submitted various requests in relation to the public hearing, which were considered and decided by the Court in a meeting held before the hearing. 11. The public hearing was held on February 8, 2008, during the seventy-eighth regular session of the Court. 3 Both the representatives and the State submitted probative documents during the said hearing. On March 12, 2008, the alleged victim forwarded his brief with final arguments, to which he attached several documents, including vouchers for the expenses incurred in relation to the public hearing. On March 10, 2008, the Inter- American Commission and the State forwarded their respective final arguments briefs. Lastly, on July 19, 2008, the representatives forwarded a brief on certain supervening facts relating to the deliberations of the Supreme Court of Justice of July 3, 2008, concerning the constitutional validity of the norm which establishes that only the political parties may request the registration of candidacies for elected public office, and attached a copy of the stenographic version of this session. On July 30, 2008, the Inter-American Commission advised that it did not have any observations on the representatives brief, because, when adopting its report on admissibility and merits in this case, the Commission had not declared a violation of Article 23 of the American Convention. On the same date, the State forwarded its observations, reiterating the arguments submitted during the processing of the case and, in particular, it indicated that the stenographic version forwarded is not of a supervening nature, nor is it related to the litigation before the Court. The State added that the content of the stenographic version has no probative value and that the final decision will only be known when the corresponding judgment is notified. 12. In addition, on January 24 and 31, February 6 and 7, April 28, and July 7 and 21, 2008, respectively, the Court received amicus curiae briefs from the following individuals and institutions: Jorge Santistevan de Noriega; the Mexican Lawyers Professional Association; a group of students, former students and academics of the Human Rights master s degree program of the Universidad Iberoamericana of Mexico; the Parliamentary Group of the Convergence Party; a group of post-graduate and licentiate students of the Law School of the Universidad Autónoma de Mexico; Socorro Apreza Salgado, Ricardo Alberto Ortega Soriano and Jorge Humberto Meza of the Law School of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; and Imer Flores of the Juridical Research Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 3 At the audience, there appeared: (a) for the Inter-American Commission: Florentín Meléndez and Santiago Cantón, Delegates, and Juan Pablo Albán and Lilly Ching Soto, Advisers; (b) for the representatives of the alleged victim: Fabián Aguinaco Bravo, Santiago Corcuera Cabezut and Federico Reyes Heroles; and (c) for the State: Juan Manuel Gómez-Robledo, Ambassador and Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Miguel Alessio Robles, Legal Adviser of the Federal Executive; María Carmen Oñate Muñoz, Ambassador, Mexican Embassy in Costa Rica; Joel Hernández García, Ambassador, Legal Unit, Ministry of Governance; Rolando Wilfredo de Lassé Cañas, Director of Juridical Affairs, Federal Electoral Institute; Alejandro Negrín, Minister-Director General for Human Rights and Democracy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ana Luz Brun Iñarritu, Director General of Constitutional Studies and Consultations, Legal Advisory Services, Federal Executive; Víctor Manuel Uribe Aviña, Associate Legal Consultant, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; José Luis Alcudi Agoya, Associate Director General of Social Communication, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; José Ignacio Martín del Campo, Director of Litigation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Jorge Ulises Carmona Tinoco, External Adviser, Federal Electoral Institute.
5 5 13. On May 26, 2008, the representatives of the alleged victim asked the Court to abstain from considering the amicus curiae submitted on April 28, 2007, because it was received long after the date on which the file of this case before the Court had been closed, on March 10, 2008 [and] the briefs submitted by third parties should respect the time frames and procedures in each case, and not be submitted late. On the same grounds, on July 19, 2008, the representatives raised an objection to the amicus curiae sent to the Court on July 7, Regarding the alleged late submission of the briefs of April 28 and July 7, 2008, the Court reiterates that amici curiae are submitted by third parties who are not parties to the dispute who provide the Court with arguments or opinions that can serve as relevant information in relation to legal aspects that are being aired before it. As the Court has indicated recently, 4 amici curiae can be submitted at any time before the deliberation of the corresponding judgment. In addition, pursuant to the Court s practice, amici curiae can even refer to matters relating to compliance with judgment. Moreover, the Court emphasizes that the cases it hears have a general importance or interest that justifies the greatest possible deliberation of publicly-debated arguments. Hence, amici curiae have significant value in strengthening the inter-american system for the protection of human rights, through the considerations provided in the Court s possession. Consequently, the Court rejects the objection submitted by the representatives based on late presentation. If appropriate, the Court will take into account the representatives observations on the contents of these briefs when it examines the corresponding issues. III PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS 15. The State filed several preliminary objections that the Court has proceeded to organize and examine according to the affinity or nature of the objections and a reasonable criterion of convenience in order to consider them. A) FIRST PRELIMINARY OBJECTION Actual enforcement of the law as a requirement for the competence of the Court 16. The State alleged that, in the instant case, there was no act that enforced the law, because Mr. Castañeda Gutman requested registration of his candidacy in March 2004, when the electoral process in which he wished to participate, and which would be held in 2006, had not commenced. This request was time-barred as regards both the start of the electoral process on October 6, 2005, and the registration of candidacies, which began on January 1, 2006, pursuant to the electoral laws. Consequently, the law was not enforced because, when responding to this time-barred request, the electoral administrative authority only informed Mr. Castañeda Gutman about the provisions of the respective norms, since the fact that his request was time-barred conditioned the other requirements. The fact that, in its response the electoral authority referred to the legal requirement to be nominated by a party, did not imply the enforcement of this provision to the detriment of the alleged victim, because, in that case, the electoral process would, at least, have had to have commenced and Mr. Castañeda Gutman to have presented his request during the stage corresponding to the registration of candidacies. The Inter-American Court is only competent to hear a case if the law in force was applied in a specific case, and cannot 4 Cf. Case of Kimel v. Argentina. Merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of May 2, Series C No. 177, para. 16.
6 6 decide if a law is contrary to the American Convention if it has not adversely affected the rights and freedoms protected by the Convention, as in the instant case. 17. The Commission argued that, as the Court had stated in its Advisory Opinion No. 14, the individuals subject to the jurisdiction of a norm may be affected simply because it is in force, in the case of self-executing norms ( leyes de aplicación immediata ). This is the situation in the instant case where the mere existence of Article 175 of the Federal Code for Electoral Institutions and Procedures (hereinafter COFIPE or Federal Electoral Code) 5 and the possibility of its application may violate the provisions of the Convention and, thus, grant competence to the organs of the inter-american system to hear a contentious case related to them. Despite the above, it indicated that, in a communication of March 11, 2004, the Federal Electoral Institute (hereinafter IFE ) responded to Mr. Castañeda Gutman s request stating that, pursuant to the legal norms, his candidacy could not be registered, so that maintaining that Article 175 of the Federal Electoral Code was not enforced in this case is not based on the reality. The Commission considered that this objection was unfounded and asked the Court to reject it. 18. The representatives argued that the Court has the authority to hear cases regarding laws that are incompatible with the Convention when they are self-executing ; moreover, irrespective of whether Article 175 of the COFIPE has the characteristics of a selfexecuting norm or not, the alleged victim was seeking the non-execution of this norm. The one and only disputed act of the authority was precisely the refusal of IFE to register Mr. Castañeda Gutman s candidacy by enforcing, among other norms, Article 175 of the COFIPE. The application for amparo that was filed alleged, precisely, the incompatibility of Article 175 of the COFIPE with the Convention and, consequently, with the Constitution, since the ultimate intention was to contest the law itself, not in an abstract sense, but in order to achieve the specific effect of registration of the candidacy. Lastly, they indicated that when the Court has found that a provision of domestic law is not in keeping with the inter-american legal system, it has decided that the State concerned should reform its laws. * * * 19. In official communication No. DEPPP/DPPF/569/04 of March 11, 2004, the Federal Electoral Institute answered the request for registration as a candidate for the elected office of President of the United Mexican States submitted by Jorge Castañeda Gutman on March 5, In this communication, based on case law and the pertinent legal provisions, including Article 175 of the COFIPE, the IFE Privileges and Political Parties Directorate concluded: Based on the foregoing grounds and reasons [ ] you are advised that the right to be postulated for and elected to elected public office at the federal level, can only be exercised through one of the national political parties that are registered with the Federal Electoral Institute. Lastly, paragraph 1(e) of Article 177 of the respective Code indicates that the time frame for the registration of candidacies for President of the United Mexican States is from January 1 to 15 of the year of the election. Based on the above, it is not possible to accept your request as presented [ ]. 5 The Federal Code for Electoral Institutions and Procedures (COFIPE) was rescinded and substituted by a new code that was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on January 14, Article 175 and other Articles of COFIPE that are referred to in this judgment are those that were in force at the time of the facts. Cf. the representatives final arguments brief (merits file, tome IV, folio 1140).
10 10 indicated that the only way to contest a legal precept of an electoral nature, was the unconstitutionality proceedings, and that the TRIFE could not hear this even if the only purpose was to determine its possible non-application. * * * 30. The Court has developed clear rules for examining an objection based on an alleged failure to comply with the exhaustion of domestic remedies. First, the Court has interpreted the objection as a defense available to the State and, as such, the State may waive it, either expressly or tacitly. Second, this objection must be submitted opportunely so that the State may exercise its right to defense. Third, the Court has stated that the State that submits this objection must specify the domestic remedies that have not yet been exhausted and prove that those remedies are applicable and effective The State first alleged the supposed failure to exhaust domestic remedies in its initial communication with the Commission on January 18, 2006, thus complying with the timely presentation of the preliminary objection. In this communication, the State indicated that Articles 8, 79 and 83 of the Law on the System of Mechanisms for Contesting Electoral Matters (hereinafter Law on Contesting Electoral Matters ) provides for an action to protect the political and electoral rights of the citizen, which must be filed four days after learning about the authority s act that an individual wishes to contest and which will be decided in a single proceeding by the Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal. The State alleged that this remedy was the appropriate way, established in the Law on Contesting Electoral Matters, to protect political rights that had allegedly been violated, and that Mr. Castañeda Gutman did not exhaust it, but rather filed an inappropriate remedy under the Mexico legal system to contest an act by the authority relating to electoral matters. Consequently, the State complied with its obligation to specify the remedies that it understood had not yet been exhausted. 32. Based on the above, the Court considers that the State alleged the objection of failure to exhaust domestic remedies in the appropriate time and form. 33. When filing this preliminary objection before the Court, the State alleged, as it did before the Commission, that the said action for the protection of the political and electoral rights of the citizen was an available, appropriate and effective remedy. In this regard, the Commission and the representatives of the alleged victim stated that this remedy was not effective; in consequence, first, it not have to be exhausted and, second, the absence, in Mexico, of a simple, prompt and effective remedy to contest the constitutionality of a law that allegedly affected Mr. Castañeda Gutman s political rights constituted a violation of Article 25 of the American Convention. 34. The Inter-American Court has considered that, in the sphere of international human rights law, the rule of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies has specific implications that are included in the Convention. Indeed, according to the Convention, the States Parties are obliged to provide effective judicial remedies to the victims of human rights violations (Article 25), remedies that must be substantiated according to the rules of due process of law (Article 8(1)), both in relation to the general obligation of these States to ensure the 6 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Preliminary objections. Judgment of June 26, Series C No. 1, para. 88; Case of the Saramaka People v. Suriname. Preliminary objection, merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of November 28, Series C No. 172, para. 43; and Case of Salvador Chiriboga v. Ecuador. Preliminary objection and merits. Judgment of May 6, Series C No. 179, para. 40.
11 11 free and full exercise of the rights recognized by the Convention to all those subject to their jurisdiction (Article 1(1)). Therefore, when exceptions to the rule of failure to exhaust domestic remedies are invoked, such as the ineffectiveness of such remedies or the inexistence of due process, not only is it being alleged that the victim is not obliged to file such remedies but, indirectly, the State is being accused of a new violation of the obligations it has assumed under the Convention. In these circumstances, the issue of domestic remedies borders on the merits of the case Consequently, on repeated occasions, the Court has examined the arguments on this preliminary objection together with the other merits of the case Since a preliminary examination of the effectiveness of the action for the protection of the political and electoral rights of the citizen would mean a ruling on the compatibility of this remedy with the American Convention, which could eventually result in the determination of a violation of the Convention, the Court considers it essential to examine the arguments of the parties in this respect with the merits of the case when determining whether Article 25 of the American Convention has been violated. D) FOURTH PRELIMINARY OBJECTION Actions of the Inter-American Commission in the processing of the case 37. As preliminary objections, the State raised six issues related to the actions of the Inter-American Commission in this case. It considered that the Inter-American Commission: 1. Should not have processed the alleged victim s request for precautionary measures; 2. Should have finalized the initial processing of the petition based on the information that the State provided when responding to the precautionary measures ordered by the Commission, and after learning that the alleged victim did not present his candidacy during the registration stage of the electoral process; 3. Should have ruled on the admissibility of the petition; however, without sufficient and clear grounds, it ordered the transfer of the matter of admissibility to the consideration of the merits of the petition; 4. Should have declared the inadmissibility of the petition based on Article 47 of the American Convention, even Report on admissibility and merits No. 113/06; 5. Infringed Article 50 of the American Convention by adopting Report on admissibility and merits No. 113/06; and 6. Did not comply with the requirements of its own Rules of Procedure to lodge the case before the Inter-American Court. 38. The Court will establish the relevant criteria for examining the issues raised, it will summarize the arguments of the parties and, lastly, it will decide those issues. 39. The Court considers it necessary to indicate that, although neither the American 7 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez, supra note 6, para. 91; Case of Fairén Garbi and Solís Corrales v. Honduras. Preliminary objections. Judgment of June 26, Series C No. 2, para. 90; and Case of Godínez Cruz v. Honduras. Preliminary objections. Judgment of June 26, Series C No. 3, para Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez, supra note 6, para. 96; Case of Castillo Petruzzi et al. v. Peru. Preliminary objections. Judgment of September 4, Series C. No. 41, para. 53; and Case of Salvador Chiriboga, supra note 6, para. 45.
12 12 Convention nor the Court s Rules of Procedure define the concept of preliminary objection, according to the Court s case law, it can be defined as the procedural act that contests the admissibility of an application or the competence of the Court to hear a specific case or any of its aspects based on the person, the issue, the time or the place. 9 The purpose of a preliminary objection is to obtain a decision that prevents or impedes the examination of the merits of the matter questioned or of the whole case. Accordingly, irrespective of whether an assertion is defined as a preliminary objection, its content and purpose must have the essential juridical characteristics that ensure that it is of a preliminary nature. Assertions that are not of this nature, such as those that refer to the merits of a case, can be formulated during other procedural acts established in the American Convention, but not as a preliminary objection. 40. When a preliminary objection questions the Commission s actions concerning proceedings before it, it should be recalled that the Court has stated that the Inter- American Commission has autonomy and independence in the exercise of its mandate as established by the American Convention 10 and, particularly, in the exercise of its functions in the proceedings relating to the processing of individual petitions established in Articles 44 to 51 of the Convention. 11 However, one of the Court s attributes is to monitor the legality of the Commission s actions as regards processing matters that are being heard by the Court. 12 The Court has upheld the opinion that the American Convention grants it full jurisdiction over matters relating to a case submitted to its consideration, including the procedural assumptions on which the possibility of it exercising its jurisdiction are based. 13 This does not necessarily mean reviewing the proceedings before the Commission, unless there has been a grave error that violates the right to defense of the parties Moreover, in this regard, the Court emphasizes its findings since its first contentious case, to the effect that, under international case law, the failure to observe certain formalities is not always relevant, because the essential factor is that the necessary conditions are preserved to ensure that the procedural rights of the parties are not reduced or unbalanced and to achieve the purposes for which the different proceedings have been 9 Cf. Case of Las Palmeras v. Colombia. Preliminary objections. Judgment of February 4, Series C No. 67, para. 34; and Case of Luisiana Ríos et al. v. Venezuela. Order of the Court of October 18, 2007, second considering paragraph. 10 Cf. Control of Legality in the Exercise of the Authority of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Arts. 41 and 44 to 51 of the American Convention on Human Rights). Advisory Opinion OC-19/05 of November 28, Series A No. 19, first operative paragraph. 11 Cf. Control of Legality in the Exercise of the Authority of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Arts. 41 and 44 of the American Convention on Human Rights), supra note 10, second operative paragraph. 12 Cf. Control of Legality in the Exercise of the Authority of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Arts. 41 and 44 of the American Convention on Human Rights), supra note 10, third operative paragraph 13 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez, supra note 6, para. 29; Case of the Dismissed Congressional Employees (Aguado Alfaro et al.) v. Peru. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of November 24, Series C No. 158, para. 66; and Case of Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez v. Ecuador. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations, and costs. Judgment of November 21, Series C No. 170, para Cf. Case of the Dismissed Congressional Employees (Aguado Alfaro et al.), supra note 13, para. 66; and Case of the Saramaka People, supra note 6, paras. 32 and 40.
13 13 designed Lastly, the party that affirms that the Commission s actions during the proceedings before it have included a grave error that affected the party s right of defense must prove this prejudice. 16 Consequently, in this regard, a complaint or a difference of opinion in relation to the actions of the Inter-American Commission is not sufficient. * * * 43. First, the State alleged that the Commission should not have processed the alleged victim s request for precautionary measures, among other reasons, because: (i) it granted precautionary measures in favor of Jorge Castañeda Gutman without inviting the State to provide information or offer its observations, in other words, inaudita parte; (ii) it required the State to violate its domestic legal norms by ordering the registration of the beneficiary as a candidate for the office of President of the United Mexican States as a precautionary measure; (iii) it granted precautionary measures that revealed prejudgment from the start by processing the matter with unusual haste, and (iv) it proceeded irregularly by granting the precautionary measures, as revealed by the Order of the Inter-American Court of November 25, 2005, which decided that the matter did not merit granting provisional measures, because this would have entailed an incidental anticipated judgment with the consequent establishment in limine litis of the facts and their respective consequences, object of the principal debate. 44. Among other arguments, the Commission maintained that: (i) when it requires the adoption of a precautionary measure to protect the alleged victim s rights, in keeping with its regulatory mandate, this does not anticipate the merits of the matter submitted to its consideration; (ii) it is not the first time that the Commission has granted precautionary measures to protect political rights, including the request for the provisional registration of the candidacies of an independent movement for Congress, until the merits of the matter raised have been decided; (iii) the State s allegation is not a matter for a preliminary objection, in the sense that the decision on a preliminary objection is intended to determine whether the proceedings on merits should continue; therefore, the petition formulated the by the State must relate to the Court s competence in relation to the merits of the case, which did not occur in this case, and (iv) the filing of a preliminary objection regarding a precautionary procedure is not generally admissible, and particularly if this procedure has concluded, as in this case, because it is understood that the precautionary measures procedure ended and lost all effectiveness with the State s refusal to provisionally register the independent candidacy of the victim. Based on the above, the Commission requested that this preliminary objection be rejected. 45. The representatives did not add any observations to those submitted by the Commission. 46. The Court finds that the State s allegation relating to the granting of precautionary measures by the Commission and the supposed prejudgment of this organ when granting them, is not an argument relating to a preliminary objection, because, the issues raised are 15 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez, supra note 6, para. 33; Case of Baena Ricardo et al. Preliminary objections. Judgment of November 18, Series C No. 61, para. 41; and Case of the 19 Tradesmen v. Colombia. Preliminary objection. Judgment of June 12, Series C No. 93, para Cf. Case of the Dismissed Congressional Employees (Aguado Alfaro et al.), supra note 13, para. 66; and Case of the Saramaka People, supra note 6, para. 32.
CONTENTS I. ORIGIN, STRUCTURE AND COMPETENCE OF THE COURT 1. A. Establlishment 1. B. Organization 1. C. Composition 2. D.
ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS OF JANUARY 20, CASE OF THE KICHWA INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF SARAYAKU v.
Juridical Condition and Rights of the Undocumented Migrants, Advisory Opinion OC-18/03, September 17, 2003, Inter-Am. Ct. H.R. (Ser. A) No. 18 (2003).

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