HAVING SEEN:
1. The submission of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights dated January 18, 1988 which requests that the Court adopt additional specific measures to complement those taken in its Order of January 15, 1988;
2. The statements of the parties in the hearing held today in compliance with the Court's Order of January 18, 1988;
3. The submission presented by the Government of Honduras on January 19, 1988 entitled "Response to the Request for Specific Measures."
CONSIDERING:
1. Articles 63(2), 33 and 62(3) of the American Convention on Human Rights, Articles 1 and 2 of the Statute and 23 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court, the judicial character of the Court and the powers derived therefrom;
2. The disposition of the Government of Honduras, as shown in the aforementioned hearing, to take on its own initiative measures to investigate and punish those responsible for the assassinations of José Isaías Vilorio, Miguel Angel Pavón and Moisés Landaverde and to protect those persons who might be threatened, especially Ramón Custodio-López and Milton Jiménez-Puerto;
3. That the submission of the Government of Honduras contains press releases of the Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic of Honduras and of the Honduran Inter-Institutional Comission of Human Rights which repudiate the assasinations, the violence and the methods involved;
4. That in the same submission the Government announced that it would submit to the Court the autopcies of the victims;
5. That this Court has been informed on repeated occasions that there exists in Honduras a campaign of calumny against Hondurans who have testified in these cases, portraying them as disloyal to their country and exposing them public hatred and disrespect and even physical or moral attacks;
6. That the Court should take additional provisional measures.
THEREFORE,
THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS,
RESOLVES:
1. That the Government of Honduras, within a period of two weeks, inform
this Court on the following points:
a. The measures that have been adopted or will be adopted to protect the physical integrity and to avoid irreparable harm to those witnesses who have testified or have been summoned to do so in these cases.
b. The judicial investigations that have been or will be undertaken with respect to threats against the aformentioned individuals.
c. The investigations of the assasinations, including forensic reports, and the actions that are proposed to be taken within the judicial system of Honduras to punish those responsible.
2. That the Government of Honduras adopt concrete measures to make clear that the appearance of an individual before the Inter-American Commission or Court of Human Rights, under conditions authorized by the American Convention and by the rules of procedure of both bodies, is a right enjoyed by every individual and is recognized as such by Honduras as a party to the Convention.
Rafael Nieto-Navia
President
Héctor Gros-Espiell Rodolfo E. Piza E.
Thomas Buergenthal Pedro Nikken
Héctor Fix-Zamudio Rigoberto Espinal
Ad hoc Judge
Charles Moyer
Secretary