Carlos Santiago y Pedro Andrés Restrepo, Case 11.868, Report No. 99/00, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.111 Doc. 20 rev. at 538 (2000).
REPORT
Nº99/00*
CASE 11.868
CARLOS SANTIAGO AND PEDRO ANDRÉS
RESTREPO ARISMENDY
ECUADOR
October 5, 2000
I.
SUMMARY
1.
On August 6, 1997, Gay McDougall and Romina Picolloti, representing
the International Human Rights Law Group; Judith Kimerling and Sister
Elsie Monge, representing the Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos
(CEDHU: Ecumenical Commission for Human Rights); Patrick F.J. Macrory,
Laura M. Reifschneider, and Richard Wilson, representing the International
Human Rights Law Clinic of the Washington College of Law, American University
(hereinafter the petitioners), filed a petition with the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the Commission or
the IACHR) against the Republic of Ecuador (hereinafter the
State or the Ecuadorian State, or Ecuador),
for violations of the following rights protected by the American Convention
on Human Rights (hereinafter the American Convention or the
Convention): the
right to life (Article 4); the right to humane treatment (Article 5);
the right to personal liberty (Article 7); the right to a fair trial (Article
8), the rights of the child (Article 19); and the right to judicial protection
(Article 25).
2.
On May 20, 1998, a friendly settlement agreement was signed, put
forth by the Commission, pursuant to which the Ecuadorian State accepted
its responsibility for the facts alleged.
This report contains a brief presentation of the facts and the
text of the agreement, in keeping with Article 49 of the Convention.
II.
THE FACTS
3.
On January 8, 1988, brothers Carlos Santiago and Pedro Andrés Restrepo
Arismendy were detained by the National Police of Ecuador, and were later
disappeared while under the custody of the National Police.
4.
After 11 months during which the parents of these two minors received
incoherent and illegal results from the National Police, they began to
make this case public, seeking collaboration by the Ecuadorian State,
which not only failed to yield any positive result with respect to the
fate of the minors, but also brought threats to the family if they were
to continue publicizing what happened.
5.
In 1990, a Special Commission took charge of this case; it was
able to determine that the brothers, both minors, had been detained, tortured,
killed and disappeared by the National Police of Ecuador, and that their
bodies had been dumped in a small lake.
6.
After the results produced by the Special Commission, several judicial
proceedings were begun, without ending in a declaration of State responsibility
for this act, and without giving any official information on the current
whereabouts of the two minors.
III.
PROCESSING BEFORE THE COMMISSION
7.
On August 6, 1997, the Commission received a petition submitted
by the petitioners against the Ecuadorian State, which was transmitted
to the State on January 22, 1998.
The case was processed in keeping with the Commissions Regulations.
8.
On February 24, 1998, the Commission placed itself at the disposal
of the parties with a view to initiating the process of pursuing a friendly
settlement. On March 4, 1998,
a meeting was held at Commission headquarters, in which the petitioners
and the State participated in order to draw up the friendly settlement
agreement, and finally, on May 14, 1998, this agreement was signed by
the parties in the city of Quito, Ecuador.
IV.
THE FRIENDLY SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
9.
The friendly settlement agreement adopted by the parties reads
as follows:
FRIENDLY
SETTLEMENT ENTERED INTO BY THE ECUADORIAN STATE AND MR. PEDRO RESTREPO,
FATHER OF MINORS CARLOS SANTIAGO AND PEDRO ANDRÉS RESTREPO ARISMENDY,
IN RELATION TO COMPLAINT No. 11.868 BEFORE THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION
ON HUMAN RIGHTS, HEADQUARTERED IN WASHINGTON.
PARTIES
APPEARING
The
following persons were present at the signing of this friendly settlement
agreement: For the first
party, Mr. Milton Alava Ormaza, in his capacity as Attorney General, and
sole judicial representative of the Ecuadorian State, as accredited in
the appointment and certificate of office, duly authenticated, which are
attached as qualifying documents, and for the second party Mr. Pedro Restrepo,
father of minors Carlos Santiago and Pedro Andrés Restrepo Arismendy,
who attests to this capacity by showing his citizenship card and the birth
certificates of the minors named, certified copies of which are attached.
The
Attorney General, Mr. Milton Alava Ormaza, is appearing under Article
13 of the Constitution of Ecuador, and pursuant to Article 17(d) of the
Law Amending the Law on Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances and Rules
for the Office of the Attorney General, promulgated in the second supplement
of the Registro Oficial No. 173 of October 15, 1997, replacing
Article 11 of the Organic Law of the Public Ministry, published in the
Registro Oficial No. 871, of June 10, 1979.
Mr.
Pedro Restrepo demonstrates, with the relevant documents listed above,
and in his capacity as the sole beneficiary of his sons, pursuant to Articles
1045 and 1052 of the Civil Code, in relation to the death of his wife,
Mrs. Elena Arismendy de Restrepo, attested to by the death certificate,
a certified copy of which is attached.
FIRST
BACKGROUND
1.
From the judicial proceedings and other investigations undertaken in Ecuador,
it is concluded that on January 8, 1988, brothers Carlos Santiago and
Pedro Andrés Restrepo Arismendy, of Ecuadorian nationality, minors, were
detained by members of the National Police, and, while in their power,
disappeared. They were driving
a beige Chevrolet Trooper.
On
January 9, 1988, their family members initiated an unsuccessful search
in detention centers for minors, hospitals, and all along the route they
had apparently followed.
On
January 10, 1988, the disappearance of these two minors was reported to
the then-Criminal Investigation Service of Pichincha (SIC-P).
The
commanders of the National Police in charge of the investigation, after
a series of dilatory tactics and contradictions, submitted a report that
upheld the hypothesis that the Restrepo brothers had disappeared as the
result of a traffic accident.
The
two youths bodies were never found at the supposed accident site.
A
Special International Investigative Commission, designated for the purpose
by the national government at that time, made up of prominent international
figures and by the Attorney General, after intense verification and analysis,
concluded that the Restrepo Arismendy brothers disappeared while in the
hands of members of the National Police of Ecuador, and that their bodies
were cast into Yambo lake, in the province of Tungurahua.
The
acts carried out by the official agents of the Ecuadorian State were violative
of the constitutional and statutory provisions of our domestic legal order,
as well as of the American Convention on Human Rights, of which our country
is a signatory, and Articles 19, 20, and 22(1) and (19)(h), and Article
25 of the Constitution of Ecuador.
In
addition, there were violations of Articles 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 25 of
the American Convention on Human Rights.
SECOND
- STATE RESPONSIBILITY
The
domestic judicial proceeding was characterized by unjustified delays,
highly technical arguments, inefficiency, and denial of justice.
The Ecuadorian State could not demonstrate that it was not its
official agents who illegally and arbitrarily detained brothers Carlos
Santiago and Pedro Andrés Restrepo Arismendy, to the point of torturing
them and taking their lives, nor could it refute that those actions were
at odds with the Constitution, with our countrys legal framework,
and with respect to the international conventions that guarantee human
rights.
THIRD
- RECOGNITION OF RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCEPTANCE OF THE ECUADORIAN STATE
In
this context, the Ecuadorian State has recognized, before the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights, its culpability in the facts narrated and
has undertaken to adopt reparative measures by recurring to the institution
of friendly settlement provided for in Article 45 of the Regulations of
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
FOURTH
COMPENSATION
In
view of the foregoing, the Ecuadorian State, represented by the Office
of the Attorney General, makes a one-time payment of US$ 2,000,000 (two
million U.S. dollars or its equivalent in national currency), to Mr. Pedro
José Restrepo Bermúdez, pursuant to Articles 1045 and 1052 of the Civil
Code, to be paid from the National Budget.
This
compensation covers the consequential damages, loss of income, and moral
damages suffered by the Restrepo Arismendy family, and shall be paid to
Mr. Pedro Restrepo, pursuant to the domestic law, and is chargeable to
the National Budget. To this
end, the Office of the Attorney General will notify the Ministry of Finance
for it to carry out this obligation within 90 days of the signing of this
document.
FIFTH
- COMPENSATION FROM GUILTY PERSONS
This
friendly settlement agreement does not include such compensation as the
father of the Restrepo Arismendy brothers has the right to claim from
the persons responsible for their unlawful and arbitrary detention, torture,
death, and disappearance, and who have been found guilty, under Articles
52 and 67 of the Ecuadorian Criminal Code; this compensation has been
recognized in the ruling handed down by the President of the Supreme Court
of Justice of Ecuador in a judgment of March 31, 1998.
NEW
SEARCH FOR THE RESTREPO BROTHERS
Within
90 days at most, counted from the formalization of this agreement, the
Ecuadorian State, represented by the Attorney General, undertakes to carry
out a complete, total, and definitive search, in Yambo lake, for the bodies
of the Restrepo brothers, which, it is considered, may have been cast
into it in 1998 or subsequent years, and to recover them if located.
To this end, the Ministry of National Defense shall make available
a team of scuba divers from the Ecuadorian Navy to the Office of the Attorney
General; they will be joined by a team or teams of specialized private
organizations, whose assistance will be sought by the Office of the Attorney
General or that are provided on a volunteer basis by Ecuadorian or international
human rights organizations. The
Ministry of Government, for its part, will provide the full collaboration
needed to secure this objective.
SEVENTH
- FREEDOM OF ACTION
The
Ecuadorian State undertakes not to interfere in the constitutional and
statutory rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of the
Restrepo family, their sympathizers, and human rights organizations that
join this cause for the purpose of commemorating the death of Carlos and
Pedro Andrés Restrepo Arismendy or for other purposes related to this
event. The National Police
and Armed Forces shall guarantee these natural and juridical persons the
free exercise of these guarantees, in keeping with Ecuadorian law.
EIGHTH
- RELIEF
The
Office of the Attorney General, in representation of the Ecuadorian State,
states for the record that, in relation to Mr. Pedro Restrepo, his deceased
wife, and his family in general, no charges are or have been pending for
activities outside the law, or outside of what is moral, and that any
speculation, rumor, or suspicion stated or conveyed through private persons
or authorities against the honor or good name of the persons indicated
are absolutely tendentious and lack any basis whatsoever.
To the contrary, the Office of the Attorney General has sufficient
grounds to state, with no doubt, that Mr. Restrepo and his family, through
their legitimate and honorable efforts, have contributed, as have other
foreign citizens, to the progress of Ecuador.
NINTH
- PUNISHMENT OF PERSONS NOT PLACED ON TRIAL
The
Ecuadorian State, through the Office of the Attorney General, pledges
to encourage the State Attorney General and the competent judicial organs,
to bring criminal charges against those persons who, in the performance
of their police functions, are considered to have participated in the
death of brothers Carlos Santiago and Pedro Andrés Restrepo Arismendy.
The Office of the Attorney General undertakes to encourage the
public or private organs with competence to contribute legally supported
information that makes it possible to bring those persons to trial.
If it takes place, this trial shall be carried out subject to the
constitutional and statutory order of the Ecuadorian State, and, consequently,
shall not proceed against those persons who have been subject to a final
judgment by the Supreme Court of Justice of Ecuador, or in the event that
the offenses attributable to them have legally prescribed.
TENTH
- REPORTING
The
Ecuadorian State, through the Office of the Attorney General, agrees to
report every three months to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
or the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on compliance with the obligations
assumed by the State in this friendly settlement.
ELEVENTH
- LEGAL BASIS
The
compensatory damages that the Ecuadorian State is awarding to Mr. Pedro
Restrepo are provided for in Articles 23 and 25 of the Constitution for
violations of the constitutional and statutory provisions of Ecuadorian
law, and the provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights, of
which Ecuador is a signatory country.
TWELFTH
- NOTIFICATION
Mr.
Pedro Restrepo specifically authorizes the Attorney General to notify
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of this friendly settlement,
so that the Commission may confirm and ratify it in its entirety.
THIRTEENTH
- ACCEPTANCE
The
parties, in their respective capacities, freely and voluntarily express
their conformity with and their acceptance of the content of the preceding
clauses and state for the record that this ends case No. 11.868 before
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and that in the future
they will have no claims to file over this case.
V.
DETERMINATION OF COMPATIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE
10.
The Commission determined that the friendly settlement agreement
transcribed is compatible with the provisions of Article 48(1)(f) of the
American Convention.
11.
Under the agreement, the Ecuadorian State fulfilled its main obligation
to pay Mr. Pedro José Restrepo Bermúdez, the father of the minors, the
sum of US$ 2,000,000.00 (two million U.S. dollars) as compensation for
the consequential damages, lost earnings, and moral damages suffered by
the Restrepo Arismendy family.
12.
In addition, the Ecuadorian State undertook to carry out a total,
definitive, and complete search for the bodies in the Yambo lake, and
to recover them, if located. As of two years after the signing of the friendly settlement
agreement, this commitment has not been carried out.
13.
Nor has the Ecuadorian State carried out its commitment to request
the judicial bodies with jurisdiction to prosecute criminally the persons
considered to have participated in the torture, disappearance, and death
of the Restrepo Arismendy brothers, and in covering up those acts.
VI.
CONCLUSIONS
14.
The Commission reiterates its recognition of the Ecuadorian State
for its decision to settle this case by reparative measures, including
those needed to bring civil, criminal, and administrative proceedings
against the persons who, in the performance of government functions, participated
in the violations alleged.
15.
The IACHR will continue to monitor compliance with the continuing
commitments assumed by Ecuador to bring civil, criminal, and administrative
proceedings against the persons who, while performing government functions,
participated in the violations alleged.
16.
The IACHR ratifies that the possibility of friendly settlement
provided for in the American Convention makes it possible to conclude
individual cases in a non-contentious manner, and has proven, in cases
from several countries, to offer an important vehicle for settling violations
alleged that may be used by both parties (petitioners and the State).
THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS,
DECIDES:
1.
To recognize that the State has made payment of US$ 2,000,000 as
compensation, and note that it has failed to carry out its commitment
to search for the bodies and to punish the persons responsible for the
violation alleged.
2.
To urge the State to take the measures needed to comply with the
commitments still pending to carry out the total, definitive, and complete
search for the bodies of the two brothers, and the criminal trial of the
persons considered to have participated in the torture, disappearance,
and death of the Restrepo Arismendy brothers, as well as in covering up
those acts.
3.
To continue to monitor and supervise compliance with the settlement
agreement, and, in this context, to remind the State, through the Office
of the Attorney General, of its commitment to report periodically,
upon request of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights or the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights, as to the performance of the obligations assumed
by the State under this friendly settlement.
4.
To make this report public and to include it in its Annual Report
to the OAS General Assembly.
Done and signed at the headquarters
of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Washington D.C., on
this the 5th day of October, 2000.
(Signed): Hélio Bicudo, Chairman; Claudio Grossman, First Vice-Chairman;
Commissioners: Marta Altolaguirre, Robert K. Goldman and Peter Laurie.
* Dr. Julio Prado Vallejo, of Ecuadorian nationality, did not participate in the discussion of this case, in keeping with Article 19 of the Commissions Regulations.