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REPORT
Nº 130/99
I.
SUMMARY
1.
On March 11, 1997, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
(hereinafter “the Commission” or “the IACHR”), received a complaint
presented by the Inter-American Press Association (hereinafter “the
petitioners” or “IAPA”), alleging the international responsibility of the
United States of Mexico (hereinafter “the State, “the Mexican State”, or
“Mexico”), for the assassination of Mexican journalist Víctor Manuel
Oropeza, for its failure to investigate the facts and for the resulting impunity
of the perpetrators. The
petitioners denounced the violation of several rights enshrined in the American
Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter the “American Convention”): the
right to life (Article 4); to humane treatment (Article 5); to a fair trial
(Article 8); to equal protection of the law (Article 24); and to judicial
protection (Article 25).
2. Víctor
Manuel Oropeza was murdered on July 3, 1991, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua,
Mexico. On that day, the journalist was in the office where he
practiced medicine when, according to information from witnesses, two persons
entered and, following a struggle, they stabbed him 14 times in the torso.
Víctor Manuel Oropeza was a doctor by profession and, since 1984, had
been writing a column entitled “My View” in the Diario
de Juárez newspaper of Ciudad Juárez.
In this column, Oropeza expressed strong criticism of the authorities and
denounced the “close ties between police forces and drug traffickers” in the
area. The investigation took
various turns--the authorities even regarded the children of the journalist’s
first marriage, and later his second wife and her brother, as possible suspects.
The only currently presumed culprit is now in prison in the United States
for an act unrelated to this case. The
petitioners consider that Mr. Oropeza’s assassination was committed for the
purpose of silencing his criticisms, and that the investigation had been
intentionally blocked by the implicated authorities for that reason.
3.
Based on its analysis on this report, the Commission concludes that the
case meets the requisites for admissibility set forth in the American
Convention. The IACHR also
concludes that the State violated, to the detriment of Víctor Manuel Oropeza
and of all citizens, the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 13
of the American Convention; and, to the detriment of his family members, the
rights to a fair trial and judicial protection, guaranteed by Articles 8 and 25
of the aforementioned international instrument in relation to the general
obligation to respect and guarantee the rights provided for in Article 1(1)
thereof. On the other hand, the IACHR concludes that there are no grounds in
this case to establish the responsibility of the Mexican State for violation of
the rights to life, humane treatment, or equal protection of the law.
In light of the violations established, the IACHR recommends that the
State conduct a serious, impartial, and exhaustive investigation to determine
the criminal responsibility of all of the perpetrators of the assassination of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza; determine if there were other crimes that prevented a full
investigation of the facts in question; and, as the case may be, apply the
appropriate legal sanctions. Finally,
the Commission recommends that the Mexican State provide appropriate remedy and
compensation for the family members of Víctor Manuel Oropeza for the violations
established herein. As a
consequence of the violations it found, the Commission recommended to the
Mexican State in Report 93/99 that it undertake a serious, impartial and
exhaustive investigation in order to determine the criminal responsibility of
all of the perpetrators of Víctor Manual Oropeza’s assassination; and to
determine whether obstruction of justice was committed to prevent the full
investigation of the facts; and, where appropriate, to apply the respective
legal sanctions. The IACHR analyzed the information submitted by the Mexican
State on the recommendations of Report 93/99 and concluded that they had not
been complied with; accordingly, the Commission decided to publish this report.
II.
PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSION
4.
On April 23, 1997, the Commission requested information from the State on
the complaint and assigned the case number 11.740.
The response, received on September 25, 1997, was forwarded to the
petitioners, whose observations were received on January 15, 1998.
The State sent its observations on March 15 and forwarded relevant
documents on March 24, 1998.
5. The
Commission placed itself at the disposal of the parties on July 13, 1998, to
initiate a friendly settlement procedure. The
State indicated that the authorities were “in the process of evaluating the
offer”, for which purpose “they wish[ed] to know the intentions of the
petitioners”. In their
communication of July 29, 1998, the petitioners rejected the IACHR’s proposal
based on “the need for this case to be elucidated”.
6. On
February 25, 1999, the Commission approved report 18/99 regarding this case, in
accordance with Article 50 of the American Convention.
The State forwarded its observations on April 28, 1999.
On September 29, 1999, the IACHR approved Report Nº 93/99 pursuant to
Article 51 of the American Convention and sent it to the State with its
recommendations on October 4, 1999. The
State responded on November 4, 1999.
III.
POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES
A.
The petitioners 7.
The petitioners allege that the Mexican State is responsible for the
violation of Mr. Oropeza’s right to life and for the impunity of his
assailants. They argue that this
situation resulted from the authorities’ indifference and lack of political
will to investigate and solve the crime. The
petitioners linked the assassination of the journalist directly with the strong
criticism Oropeza had expressed in his column in the Diario
de Juárez, in which he identified, by first and last names, police officers
responsible for abuses and human rights violations. The petitioners point out that the lead police investigators
of the case had been criticized by the victim in his newspaper columns for
alleged connections with drug trafficking.
8. According
to the petitioners, “there were strong indications that the authorities
ignored evidence, destroyed leads, fabricated information and arrested innocent
parties”. They consider this to
be confirmed by the information provided by the State during the initial
procedures of the case, which did not respond clearly or fully to the petition
or clarify the current status of the investigations.
The petitioners allege the following: In
referring to the criminal and disciplinary investigations of the functionaries
or officials involved in mismanaging the criminal investigation into the
homicide of Oropeza, [the Mexican authorities] are
avoiding the central point
of this petition, which
is to determine by whom, how, and why Dr. Oropeza was killed in 1991, and what
action the Government of Mexico has taken to bring those responsible for
Oropeza’s death to justice (emphasis in the original).
9. Specifically,
the petitioners analyzed the steps taken by various bodies as described by the
Mexican State as fulfillment of its obligations under the American Convention.
The petitioners maintain that in its Recommendation 13/92 of February 7,
1992, addressed to the Governor of Chihuahua and to the Prosecutor General of
the Republic, the National Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the CNDH”)
“ordered a series of measures that did not contribute to shedding any light
whatsoever on the identity of those who materially or intellectually carried out
the homicide...quite the contrary, the recommendations produced no results at
all.” They went on to say that
the recommendation concerning the release of the only persons arrested in the
criminal investigation made no reference to their possible involvement, and thus
did not contribute in any way to the investigation of Víctor Manuel Oropeza’s
homicide. They allege that the
CNDH’s recommendations with regard to the criminal investigations targeting
officials of the police and the Office of the Public Prosecutor (hereinafter
“PGJ” for Procuraduría General de
Justicia) of the state of Chihuahua, for presumed irregularities in managing
the investigation of the Oropeza homicide, did not contribute to the
investigation either, but rather, lead to the conclusion that there was
“negligence, obstruction, and possibly a cover-up on the part of the officials
responsible for the investigation”. Finally,
they questioned the concept of “partial compliance” that the CNDH itself
established in respect of the initiatives adopted by the authorities of
Chihuahua with respect to the aforementioned recommendation.
10. The
petitioners also maintain that the Mexican State did not perform its duty of
protecting Mr. Oropeza, who had been the subject of several threats and who
feared for his life. In subsequent
affirmations on the matter, the petitioners indicated that the reason why the
complaint had not been brought before Mexican authorities was that “it would
have been necessary to file the complaint with the same police and justice
administration officials who had been criticized by the journalist for their
ineffectiveness and corruption”. According
to the petitioners, the threats to Oropeza were brought to the attention of
readers of his Diario de Juárez
column.
11. The
complaint draws particular attention to flaws in the investigation and the
unreasonable procedural delays in the domestic judicial proceedings, which had
produced no results whatsoever to date. Based
on the information provided by the State, they conclude that the State, having
affirmed that it had already fulfilled its obligation of rendering justice,
would not be proceeding with an investigation of any kind.
B.
The State
12. In its
first response, the State requested that the case be declared inadmissible,
considering that no violations of the American Convention had been demonstrated
and that the remedies under domestic law in Mexico had not been exhausted.
The State held that the petition did not meet the requisite of Article
46(1)(a) of the American Convention on the exhaustion of remedies under domestic
law. In this regard, it indicated
the following:
13. With
regard to the substance of the complaint, after clarifying that the information
was “preliminary”, the State described the actions of CNDH, the Chihuahua
state Human Rights Commission (hereinafter “the State Commission”), and the
PGJ. In response to CNDH
Recommendation 13/92, the State indicated that criminal case 182/91 had been
dismissed and the suspects “unconditionally released”;[1]
that an investigation preliminary to possible criminal action against the
judicial police involved had been instigated together with an administrative
investigation to solve Dr. Oropeza’s homicide; and that criminal action had
been brought against six officials of the Chihuahua PGJ for “abuse of
authority, illegal entry, assault and battery, threats, and false statements”.
14.
In support of its position concerning willingness to investigate the
facts of this case, the State provided information on actions taken against two
public officials for “irregular conduct of the preliminary investigation”[2],
although it clarified that the investigation of the Oropeza homicide was still
pending. The Human Rights
Commission of the state of Chihuahua indicated that the Chief of the Preliminary
Investigations Office of Ciudad Juárez had received a reprimand and that
criminal action had been brought against the children of Víctor Manuel Oropeza
for defamation and calumny.
15. The
State indicated that “the last procedural step to be taken” (during the
second week of November 1997) was to take the statement of Samuel Reyes, the
presumed material culprit in Oropeza’s homicide.
According to the information provided, Reyes is serving a sentence in a
high-security prison in Livingston, Texas, for an act unrelated to the instant
case.
16. With
regard to the threats allegedly made to the journalist, the State responded that
Oropeza “did not file a complaint about these threats with any authority or
any journalists union or association, let alone his readers, and therefore these
allegations of anonymous threats were not supported by legally credible
evidence”. The State added that “the petitioners’ argument
concerning a connection between Oropeza’s articles and the authorities
criticized in those articles had been inconsistent and untruthful”, and
dismissed the information provided by the IAPA, arguing that it lacked the
technical qualifications and impartiality necessary to investigate the
homicides.
17. Based on
its arguments, the Mexican State concluded that the complaint did not meet the
requisites for establishing its international responsibility for any action or
omission. It affirmed, in this
regard, that the Chihuahua PGJ, the CNDH, and the Chihuahua State Human Rights
Commission “have seriously investigated” the matter and that “the probable
culprit had been located and that most of the various recommendations by these
Commissions had been carried out”. The
State indicates that “the fact that it has not been possible to arrest all of
the probable culprits in the homicide does
not mean that the government has
‘tolerated’ an evasion of justice” (emphasis in the original).
It requested that the IACHR declare the complaint inadmissible for
failure to exhaust domestic remedies and demonstrate a violation of human rights
protected by the American Convention.
IV.
ANALYSIS
A.
Admissibility
18.
The recent practice of the Commission has been to make a prior and
separate determination concerning the admissibility of petitions[3].
However, the IACHR has also made exceptions to this practice in
cases--such as the instant case--where a complaint concerning violation of the
right to a fair trial and to judicial protection calls for an analysis of the
extent to which domestic remedies have been exhausted within a reasonable period
of time, and the extent to which such remedies have been effective.[4]
Accordingly, the Commission will analyze conformity with the requisites
set forth in Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention.
a.
Jurisdiction
19.
The State has argued that acts in violation of human rights have not been
demonstrated. As indicated above,
the arguments in this case describe acts that would be in violation of various
rights recognized and enshrined in the American Convention and which took place
at a time when the obligation to respect and guarantee the rights established in
that instrument was binding upon Mexico.[5]
Accordingly, the IACHR has jurisdiction ratione
personae, rationae materiae, and ratione
temporis to review the substance of the complaint.
b.
Exhaustion of domestic remedies
20. Article
46(2)(c) of the American Convention refers to exceptions to the rule requiring
exhaustion of domestic remedies, which include unwarranted delay in rendering a
final judgment under those remedies. The
assassination of Mr. Víctor Manuel Oropeza occurred in July, 1991, and after
nearly eight years, the competent authorities have still not tried or convicted
a single material or intellectual culprit.
21. The fact
that the investigation has remained open for a lengthy period of time --from
July 1991, when the events took place up to the time of approval of this
report-- does not in itself demonstrate a will to fully solve the case and find
the perpetrators. Quite the
contrary, the IACHR considers that if the Mexican authorities have sufficient
elements to continue the investigation, which does not in the least appear to be
complex in nature, its duration for more than eight years since the
assassination took place is clearly unreasonable.
The Commission therefore determines that there has been an unwarranted
delay in rendering a final judgment in this case, and thus the exception under
Article 46(2)(c) of the American Convention applies.
The delay in rendering a judgment will be the subject of a more complete
analysis in the section of this report concerning the right to a fair trial.
c.
Time frame for lodging the petition
22.
The State did not invoke the exception allowed under Article 46(1)(b) of
the American Convention. Analysis
of this point is not called for in this report, since the parties concur that
the domestic jurisdictional procedures in Mexico have still not been completed.
d.
Duplication of procedures
23. The
exception allowed under Article 46(1)(d) of the American Convention was not
invoked by the Mexican State, and does not apply based on the information
contained in the file for the instant case.
B.
Merits
24. Having
established the admissibility of the petition, the Commission will now analyze
the merits.
a.
Right to life (Article 4)
25.
Article 4(1) of the American Convention guarantees the right of every
person to have his life respected, and provides that no one shall be arbitrarily
deprived of his life. In the
instant case, the petitioners have not alleged the direct responsibility of
State agents in the assassination of Víctor Manuel Oropeza, but consider his
death the result of the authorities’ failure to protect the journalist.
26.
The Commission observes the absence of any dispute over the point that
the threats to Mr. Oropeza had not been reported to the competent authorities so
that the State might have taken the measures necessary to protect the
journalist’s safety and life.[6] The
IACHR therefore concludes that the State cannot be held responsible--by action
or omission--for violating Mr. Oropeza’s right to life. b.
Right to humane treatment (Article 5) and right to equal protection of
the law (Article 24)
27.
In their comments on the first response from the State, the petitioners
refer to the rights of Víctor Manuel Oropeza to humane treatment and equal
protection of the law. This reference is limited to the following: Article
5 (1) Every person has the right to
have his physical, mental, and moral integrity respected.
28. The
petitioners have not provided any basis for this assertion, nor is one evident
in the other contents of the case file. In the absence of grounds for a
determination on this point, the Commission dismisses, without further
consideration, the complaint concerning violation of the rights to humane
treatment and equal protection of the law in the instant case. c.
Right to a fair trial (Article 8) and to judicial protection (Article 25)
in relation to the obligation to respect and protect rights (Article 1(1)).
29.
The Commission has indicated before that “the question of a State's
compliance with its obligations under Articles 8 and 25 is closely linked to the
question of the applicability of exceptions to the requirement of exhaustion of
domestic remedies.”[7]
The IACHR has already made a preliminary determination, above, as to the failure
to fulfill these obligations, concluding that the exception under Article
46(2)(c) of the American Convention is applicable to the instant case.
The Commission will proceed to analyze the information available in the
file on the investigation into the violation of Víctor Manuel Oropeza’s right
to life, in order to determine if it meets the requirements established in the
American Convention, specifically in the following provisions:
Article 1(1) The
States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the rights and freedoms
recognized herein and to ensure to all persons subject to their jurisdiction the
free and full exercise of those rights and freedoms, without any discrimination
for reasons of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion,
national or social origin, economic status, birth, or any other social
condition. Article
8(1) Every
person has the right to a hearing, with due guarantees and within to reasonable
time, by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal, previously
established by law, in the substantiation of any accusation of a criminal nature
made against him or for the determination of his rights and obligations of a
civil, labor, fiscal, or any other nature.
Article 25(1) Everyone
has the right to simple and prompt recourse, or any other effective recourse, to
a competent court or tribunal for protection against acts that violate his
fundamental rights recognized by the Constitution or laws of the State concerned
or by this Convention, even though such violation may have been committed by
persons acting in the course of their official duties.
i.
Reasonable period of time
30. More
than eight years have passed since the assassination of the journalist Víctor
Manuel Oropeza--a period of time the IACHR has determined to be unreasonable in
this report. The investigation remains open, but not a single person has been
established as materially or intellectually responsible for the assassination,
nor has redress been provided in respect thereof.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has said that the reasonable
time referred to in Article 8(1) “is not an easily defined concept”, and has
referred to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in reaching
determinations on the point. These
judgments have established the following criteria for determining the
reasonableness of the time taken in the process: the complexity of the matter;
the procedural steps taken by the interested parties; and the conduct of the
judicial authorities.[8]
31. The
information available in the file shows that it is not an extremely complex
case. Two persons--Marco Arturo
Salas Sánchez and Sergio Aguirre Torres-- were initially prosecuted but were
released when the CNDH determined that they had confessed to the crime under
torture. The other arguments
maintained by the State concerning alleged obstacles to the investigation, such
as accusations among family members of the assassinated journalist, do not
constitute obstacles in the judgment of the Commission.
Indeed, there do not appear to be sufficient grounds for determining the
significance of such accusations, since the information provided by the State
itself shows that they were disregarded in the investigation of Oropeza’s
assassination.
32. In the
light of this information, the Commission confirms its preliminary assessment
with respect to the unreasonable duration of the investigation, which remains
open without any result whatsoever almost eight years after the events took
place. This conclusion will also enter into the analysis of the
other required element of an investigation: effectiveness.
ii. Effectiveness
33. The
jurisprudence of the inter-American system has defined the obligation to
investigate as an "obligation of means or behavior," which cannot be
considered not to have been met simply because the investigation failed to yield
a satisfactory result, but "must be undertaken in a serious manner, and not
as a mere formality, preordained to be ineffective."
The investigation "must have an objective and be assumed by the
State as its own legal duty, not as a step taken by private interests which
depends upon the initiative of the victim or his family or upon their offer of
proof, without an effective search for the truth by the government."[9]
34. The
IACHR has also expressed its view of the non-transferable nature of the State's
obligation to investigate, try and punish the persons responsible for human
rights violations.
One consequence is that public employees, unlike private individuals,
have a legal obligation to denounce all crimes of public action that they come
to learn of in the performance of their duties.
The preceding statement is confirmed in those procedural regimes which
deny the victim or the victim's relatives any standing, as the State monopolizes
the ability to press criminal charges. And
where such standing is provided for, its exercise is not compulsory, but an
optional choice for the person who has suffered harm, and it does not take the
place of State action.[10]
35. Mexico's
juridical system is characterized precisely by the fact that the exercise of
penal action is the exclusive purview of the State--an issue to which the IACHR
has referred on various occasions. In
a paradigmatic case of serious violations of human rights in Mexico, the
following statement was made:
The Commission believes that because of the exclusive and sole monopoly
which the Office of the Public Prosecutor holds in Mexico's juridical system on
the exercise of criminal proceedings, the rights of persons should be assured
adequately and effectively, so that this competence is not exercised arbitrarily
but in a serious and professional manner in order to guarantee the right to
judicial protection established in Article 25 of the American Convention.
In this connection, the Commission has already pointed out that "the
monopoly on the exercise of criminal proceedings that is conferred on the Office
of the Public Prosecutor in Mexico requires the establishment of an independent
and autonomous, professional, efficient and impartial institution."[11]
36. The
Inter-American Court of Human Rights has established that “the States must
prevent, investigate and punish any violation of the rights recognized by the
Convention and, moreover, if possible attempt to restore the right violated and
provide compensation as warranted” for resulting damages.[12]
For its part, the IACHR has held before the Inter-American Court that the
State has the commitment to investigate and punish “all persons responsible
for the violations concerned in the case”.[13]
The Commission has also stated: It
is the obligation of the Government to carry out a full, independent and
impartial investigation into an alleged violation of the right to life. This
obligation is incident to the Government's duty to protect and ensure the human
rights recognized in the American Convention.[14]
37. Similarly,
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights has affirmed that victims of human
rights violations must be permitted to “know the truth about the acts
committed, those responsible, and to obtain appropriate compensation”.[15]
In the United Nations system, the impunity of perpetrators of human rights
violations has been defined as follows: [impunity
is] a breach of the State’s obligations to investigate violations, take
appropriate measures in respect of their perpetrators, especially within the
justice system, to ensure that they are prosecuted, judged, and sentenced to
appropriate punishment, to assure the victims of effective recourse and remedy
for the injury they have suffered, and to take all measures necessary to avoid
the repetition of such violations.[16]
38. The
Commission will analyze the available information to determine whether the
investigation of the assassination of the journalist Víctor Manuel Oropeza,
meets all of the requirements referred to above. In that regard, the State itself provided numerous details
concerning steps not directly related to the investigation of the facts in the
case, but rather to the punishment of several public officials for very serious
irregularities in that investigation, including the torture of two persons with
the aim of self-incrimination. Although
it should be clear that such acts do not constitute the central issue in the
instant case--which is why they will not be analyzed in this report in as much
detail as the State provided in its communications--the IACHR considers these
facts important insofar as they provide evidence concerning the ineffectiveness
of the investigation. It is
observed that six public officials were accused of abuse of authority, crimes
against the administration of justice, and torture; that they themselves were
not prosecuted or punished for these actions due to irregularities committed by
the PGJ’s agents responsible for prosecuting those serious crimes; that one of
these agents was “punished” with dismissal and the other with a reprimand;
and that in view of this pattern of impunity, the CNDH considered “totally
unfulfilled” the recommendation issued by the state authorities that these
actions be investigated and punished.
39. The
central question in this investigation is obviously to determine the
circumstances under which Víctor Manuel Oropeza was assassinated.
In evaluating the implementation of CNDH’s recommendations, the State
itself affirmed:
40. Although
the State has affirmed that it had been diligent in the homicide investigation,
more than eight years have passed since the acts took place, and the State
itself admits that it has still not determined who committed them and why.
The only suspect is a person named Samuel de la Rosa Reyes, who is
imprisoned in Texas, U.S.A., for a matter unrelated to Oropeza’s homicide.
According to information submitted by the State, on November 14, 1997,
Mexican consular officers and authorities form the Office of the PGJ of
Chihuahua went to the high security prison in the city of Livingston, Texas, to
interrogate Samuel Reyes. In the same submission, the State indicates that the detainee
refused to declare, in spite of the insistence of the Mexican officers; and that
they proceeded to take an official record of the event and considered the act
finished. 41.
At no time was the Commission informed of the grounds for considering
this person as the “probable culprit” in the assassination, or the reasons
why there is no evidence pointing to any other material perpetrators, since it
is clear that a number of persons were involved as several eyewitnesses have
stated. Nor is there any reason to
expect a change in the total ineffectiveness of the investigation in the near
future.
42. The
State argued further, on several occasions, that the investigation had not
produced the results expected because of the lack of cooperation by the
victim’s family, and even that the journalist himself did not cooperate with
authorities before he was killed. To
justify the failure to investigate the connection between the assassination of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza and the information he had published on the authorities, the
State affirmed:
43. The
Commission considers that the intent to shift the responsibility for furnishing
evidence identifying the perpetrators of the assassination to individuals, and
the inactivity of the authorities in this regard, clearly demonstrate the
State’s neglect of its investigative duty under the American Convention.
With respect to this duty, the Inter-American Court has stated: The
State is obligated to investigate every situation involving a violation of the
human rights protected by the Convention. If
the State apparatus acts in such a way that the violation goes unpunished and
the victim’s full enjoyment of such rights is not restored as soon as
possible, it has failed to comply with its duty to guarantee the free and full
exercise of those rights to the persons within its jurisdiction.
The same is true when it allows private persons or groups to act
freely and with impunity to the detriment of the human rights recognized by the
Convention.[17]
(emphasis added). 44.
The Commission has determined in this report that the Mexican State was
responsible for an unwarranted delay in investigating the assassination of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza. Despite its
monopoly over the enforcement of criminal law, the State failed to perform a
complete and serious investigation of the crime against the journalist as an
inherent juridical duty, and therefore the judicial recourse available in Mexico
has not been simple, swift, or effective. Accordingly,
the Mexican State has violated, to the detriment of Víctor Manuel Oropeza’s
family, the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection enshrined in Articles
8 and 25 of the American Convention as they relate to the obligation to respect
and protect such rights established in Article 1(1) of the aforementioned
international instrument.
D.
The right to freedom of thought and expression (Article 13)
45. The
American Convention establishes the following right in its Article 13(1):
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in
writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one's
choice.
46. In its
“General Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Mexico”, the IACHR
included a chapter in which it analyzes the right to freedom of expression. More
specifically, the problems of violence and harassment of journalists in that
country are addressed in the following terms: Attacks
on journalists are specifically intended to silence them, and so they also
constitute violations of the right of a society to have free access to
information. An independent and
critical press is fundamental to ensuring respect for other liberties that are
part of a democratic system of government and a state in which the rule of law
prevails. [18] 47.
The Commission has previously issued a report in another
case regarding the murder of a journalist where--as in the case of Mr.
Oropeza--,it was not possible to establish that State agents were responsible
for the violation of the right to life.[19]
In that case, the Commission established that the lack of an exhaustive
investigation, that would lead to the punishment of all those responsible for
the murder of the journalist, also constitutes a violation of the right to
freedom of expression, due to the “chilling effect” of such impunity on
every citizen. The analysis that
follows shall be conducted along the lines of the precedent cited. 48.
The right to freedom of expression is fundamental for the development of
democracy and for the full-fledged exercise of human rights.
[20]
The Inter-American Court of
Human Rights has referred to freedom of expression as "a cornerstone in the
very existence of a democratic society...indispensable for the formation of
public opinion.” The Court added the following:
It is also a conditio sine qua non
for the political parties, the labor unions, the scientific and cultural
associations and, in general, any persons seeking to influence the people as a
whole to be able to achieve full development.
It is, finally, a condition to ensure that the community is sufficiently
well informed when the time comes to exercise its options. Finally, it may be said that a society which is not well
informed is not completely free.[21] 49.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of
the right to freedom of opinion and expression has used similar terms in his
recently issued report, which includes the following conclusion: In several countries, democratic transformations and consolidations have
brought about new liberties and freedoms. Freedom
of expression has proved to be one of the most important elements in initiating
change, contributing to peaceful transformations, as well as consolidating
democratic regimes by providing the citizen with the means to participate in
public affairs. Unfortunately,
long-standing patterns of harassment and oppression of persons whose views and
opinions differ from those of persons holding power persist in a number of
countries. In many instances,
restrictions on the freedom of opinion and expression limit to a significant
extent the possibility of violations becoming known and investigated.
In the view of the Special Rapporteur, such trends perpetuate patterns
such a government corruption and impunity.[22] 50.
The IACHR finds that in the present case, the scope of Article 13(1) of
the American Convention should be established in light of the norms contained in
Article 29 of that international instrument:
No provision of this Convention shall be interpreted as: a.
permitting any State Party, group, or person to suppress the enjoyment or
exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in this Convention or to restrict
them to a greater extent than is provided for herein.
51. The
Inter-American Court has established that "freedom of expression includes
the giving and receiving of information and has a double dimension, individual
and collective"; and that "the freedom and independence of journalists
is a good which must be protected and ensured.[23]
The Commission, for its part,
has upheld the following concept:
Freedom of expression is universal and its concept embraces the juridical
faculty which assists all persons, individually or collectively considered, to
express, transmit and disseminate their thoughts; parallel and correlative
thereto, the freedom to inform oneself is also universal, and it involves the
collective right of persons to receive such information as others may impart to
them without any interferences that may distort it.[24]
(emphasis added)
52. The U.N.
Special Rapporteur for the matter under analysis has said, in the same regard,
that “the right to seek and receive information is not simply a converse of
the right to freedom of opinion and expression but a freedom on its own”.[25]
53.
In the broad sense given to it by universal case law, the right to
freedom of expression includes, in the instant case, the freedom that the State
should have guaranteed for Víctor Manuel Oropeza to express and impart his
ideas, as well as the complementary freedom of all citizens to receive such
information without illegal or unjustified interference.[26] It
is therefore to be established in this report whether the failure to investigate
the assassination of Víctor Manuel Oropeza constitutes a violation of the right
of all citizens to freely receive “information and ideas of all kinds”.
54. The
information furnished by the petitioners concerning the link between the
journalist’s assassination and the content of his publications was dismissed
by the State, which contended the petitioners were not qualified to investigate
and, therefore, the information they provided was not valid.
In this regard, the State affirmed:
55. In this
regard, it should be recalled that the Inter-American Court has recognized the
capacity of an international human rights organization to evaluate evidence with
criteria less formal than those applied in domestic legal systems, since “in
trials concerning human rights violations, the State’s defense cannot rest on
the impossibility for the plaintiff to provide evidence which, in many cases,
cannot be obtained without the cooperation of the State”.[27]
Similarly, the IACHR has already established that “…probative elements which
are different from direct proof, such as circumstantial evidence, clues,
presumptions, press articles and, where relevant, reports of non-governmental
organizations may be used, provided that the conclusions drawn therefrom are
consistent with the facts and corroborate the testimony or events alleged by the
complainants.”[28] 56.
Based on the foregoing, it is clear that the elements provided by the
petitioners can be used in the analysis of the instant case.
Although it has not been definitively and conclusively determined who the
material and intellectual perpetrator(s) of the crime was or were, the facts
show that Víctor Manuel Oropeza was threatened and subsequently assassinated
because of the content of his articles in the press.
Indeed, the file contains abundant information--not disputed by the
State--directly linking Oropeza’s public activities and the content of his
column with the grave threats prior to his assassination. 57.
The Commission considers that the consistency and veracity of the
information provided by the petitioners is sufficient to establish that Mr. Víctor
Manuel Oropeza was the target of threats because of his journalistic activity
and his public denunciation of authorities he considered corrupt and implicated
in human rights violations. ICHD
also observes that the State has not demonstrated how the “juridical
qualifications” or “technical qualifications and expertise” that it
attributes exclusively to itself have contributed to fulfillment of its duty to
investigate and punish the perpetrators of the assassination of Víctor Manuel
Oropeza. What does appear clear and
irrefutable in this case is that a journalist openly and directly denounced
authorities in his locality; and that he was brutally assassinated after that.
It is also an undisputed fact that to date there it has not been possible
to establish in the jurisdictional bodies of Mexico who committed the crime and
why; therefore, it has not been possible to bring these criminals to court, try
them under the rules of due process, and punish them in accordance with the law. 58.
As mentioned above, the resignation by a State of its duty to fully
investigate the killing of a journalist is especially serious because of its
impact on society. Likewise, this sort of crime has a “chilling effect” on
other journalists, but also on every citizen, as it generates a fear of
denouncing abuses, harassment and all kinds of illegal actions. The Commission considers that such an effect can only be
avoided by swift action by the respective State to punish all those that may be
responsible, as is its duty under international law and domestic law.
Therefore, the Mexican State must send a strong message to society that
there shall be no tolerance for those who engage in human rights violations of
this nature. In this context, one
of the Principles of the Declaration of Chapultepec states:
Assassination, kidnapping, pressures, intimidation, unjust
imprisonment of newspaper reporters, physical destruction of the means of
communication, violence of any sort and the impunity of the aggressors
seriously hamper freedom of expression and of the press.
Such acts must be promptly investigated and severely punished. (Emphasis
added).[29]
59. In
addition, the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture
(UNESCO) has expressed its concern over the growing number of journalists
assassinated in the past ten years as a result of exercising their profession,
and over the impunity of the persons responsible for such crimes.
UNESCO made the following recommendations, among others, to its member
states: a.
That the governments adopt the principle of not permitting the statute of
limitations to expire on crimes against the person when they are perpetrated to
impede the exercise of freedom of information and expression or when intended to
obstruct justice; b.
That the governments improve legislation to provide for the trial and
conviction of the masterminds of murders of those who exercise the right to
freedom of expression.[30] 60.
This preoccupation is shared by the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the
promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, who
has said that: Governments
should…make special efforts to investigate all acts or threats of acts of
violence, intimidation or harassment directed against media personnel or offices
and bring those responsible to justice.[31] 61.
In the instant case, the IACHR has analyzed the content of the right to
freedom of expression, the importance assigned to this right by the
international community, especially bodies concerned with the observance and
respect of human rights. In that
context, the Commission concludes that the failure to investigate and criminally
sanction the material and intellectual perpetrators of the assassination of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza in accordance with Mexican domestic laws and procedures,
represents a violation of the right to public and free expression and
information. The IACHR also
concludes that the homicide of the journalist constitutes an aggression against
all citizens inclined to denounce arbitrary acts and abuses to society,
aggravated by the impunity of one or more intellectual perpetrators.
Accordingly, the failure to perform a serious and complete investigation
of the facts in the instant case makes the Mexican State internationally
responsible for violation of the right to freedom of expression of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza and citizens in general to receive information freely and to
learn the truth about acts that have occurred. V.
ACTIONS AFTER REPORT Nº 18/99 62. On
February 25, 1999, in accordance with Article 50 of the American Convention, the
Commission adopted Report Nº 18/99 on this case and transmitted it to the
Mexican State, along with the corresponding recommendations. The State sent its
comments on April 28, 1999.
63. The
Mexican State maintains the following: During the processing of the case, no evidence has been found that could
corroborate the alleged link between Mr. Víctor Manuel Oropeza’s journalistic
work and his murder. The competent authorities have taken all the steps necessary to establish
the facts of the case and to bring the culprits to trial. The investigations
have been conducted seriously, impartially, and exhaustively from the start,
despite the obstacles they had to contend with–obstacles that cannot be blamed
on the agencies of the State and that have, on the contrary, involved relatives
of the deceased himself. The reasons adduced by the IACHR to indicate that this is not a complex
case are groundless, as shown by the fact that two preliminary investigations
were opened into the murder of the aforesaid journalist.
64. In
addition, since the IACHR ruled in Report 18/99 that the Mexican State was not
responsible for violating Mr. Oropeza’s right to life, the State remarks that
“it therefore does not understand how it could have violated Mr. Oropeza’s
right to freedom of expression, a violation that could occur only as a result of
the murder, if the State had no responsibility in that deplorable incident.”
In the following lines, the State claims that “it would therefore follow that
rights can be violated by actions committed after the death of the person
entitled to those rights.”
65. First of
all, the IACHR sees a need to reiterate that the violations in this case do not
arise directly from the murder of journalist Víctor Manuel Oropeza, but rather
from the lack of an investigation conducted in accordance with the rules of due
process and the obligation imposed by Article 1(1) of the American Convention. 66. The
Commission must point out that in the above paragraphs it has taken up the
arguments offered by the State in its comments but in so doing has not forgotten
that the current stage in the proceedings is intended to determine whether the
recommendations contained in Report 18/99 on the merits of this case have been
complied with. The following paragraphs will analyze the information provided by
the State regarding its compliance with those recommendations. 67. As
regards the first recommendation (“investigate in a serious, impartial, and
exhaustive manner in order to determine the criminal responsibility of all of
the perpetrators of Víctor Manuel Oropeza’s assassination”), the State
repeats that the Office of the PGJ of Chihuahua began two preliminary
investigations into the incident, one of which concluded with a criminal case
that was dismissed pursuant to a recommendation issued by the CNDH.[32]
Regarding the other investigation, the State reports that “preliminary
investigation No. 2704/92, which is still being prepared, was opened following
an accusation naming the journalist’s own children as being responsible for
his murder and also involving his wife.”
It repeats that the authorities took steps to obtain a statement from
Samuel de la Rosa Reyes, who is currently imprisoned in Texas, USA, for a matter
unrelated to this case. The State also commented that: All the expert work was directly overseen by the family of Mr. Oropeza
Contreras, chiefly by his eldest son, Víctor Manuel Oropeza. This individual
was present at all times during the investigation, and it was he who on several
occasions hindered the expert examination of the crime scene and restricted
access to it by the local judicial police. He also dismantled and vacated his
father’s office and, without authorization, removed objects from the crime
scene.
68. First of
all, the Commission notes that at this juncture the State provides no
information regarding the progress of the investigation; instead, it simply
repeats the position it adopted during the processing of this case, basing
itself on events that occurred several years ago. Moreover, the incidents described in the above paragraph
point to an attempt by the Mexican State to avoid responsibility for the
deficiencies of the investigation and to transfer blame to the victim’s
relatives. The State does not report whether it has taken any steps to
corroborate those allegations of obstruction of justice--which, if true, would
constitute very serious crimes--or whether the guilty have been punished. 69. It is
unacceptable for a person, even a relative of the victim, to interfere in such a
way (“on several occasions”) in the investigation of a crime as serious as
this murder without the authorities responsible for the investigation
intervening in some way or other. Neither does the State offer an explanation of
how those actions affected the investigation as a whole, to the point of
rendering it absolutely ineffective. In
the absence of such information, the Commission believes that the alleged
interference of individuals in the judicial investigation must be seen along
with all the other elements analyzed above that indicate a lack of seriousness
in the investigation of the murder of journalist Víctor Manuel Oropeza.
70. The
second recommendation in Report Nº 18/99 requires the investigation and
ultimate punishment of any individuals who committed cover-up actions or crimes
against the administration of justice, impeding the investigation of Mr.
Oropeza’s murder. In this regard, the State notes the following: It is important to state that the investigations carried out indicate no
cover-up actions or crimes against the administration of justice. However, the
CNDH issued Recommendation 13/92, which requested that local and federal public
officials involved in the investigation of this case be punished and that the
preliminary investigation aimed at establishing the facts be continued. This
recommendation has currently been partially complied with, in view of the status
of preliminary investigation 2704/92.
71. The
State also reports that the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission issued
Recommendation 43/94 following the complaint filed by the widow of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza because the victim’s children were not summoned to appear in
the defamation and calumny proceedings she had begun after being named as a
“possible perpetrator of her husband’s murder.” It adds that “at
present, Recommendation 43/94 has been complied with in full.”
72. The
State then reports that: Additionally, the Chihuahua State Prosecutor General’s Office will
forward to Office of the Comptroller for Internal Affairs, in accordance with
the terms of Article 21 of [that Office’s] regulations, the findings both of
criminal case 182/91, lodged with the Third Criminal Court, and of preliminary
investigation No. 2704/92, to enable that agency to conduct an investigation to
determine whether there were cover-up actions or crimes against the
administration of justice that impeded the complete investigation of the murder
of Víctor Manuel Oropeza Contreras.
73. The
relevance of the Chihuahua Human Rights Commission’s recommendation Nº 43/94
in this context is not clear. In contrast, the IACHR believes that the State’s
comments confirm that there is enough evidence to begin a serious investigation
into the possible cover-up and obstruction of justice.
Particular note should be taken of the Chihuahua Office of the PGJ’s
initiative to determine whether a cover-up or crimes against the administration
of justice were committed. As of
the date of this report, no updated information had been received indicating
whether those steps have been taken and what results were obtained.
If those investigations are conducted and completed in compliance with
the rules of due process, the IACHR will be able to rule that the recommendation
at hand has been complied with.
74. Report Nº
18/99’s final recommendation refers to adequate redress for the violations
established in this case, to be given to the relatives of Víctor Manuel Oropeza.
In this regard, the State notes that, “compensation for damages should be
sought on an ex officio basis by the
Office of the PGJ and ordered by the court when judgment is handed down, at
which time the amount in question is to be determined.” The Mexican State
concludes its comments in the following terms: The processing of this case is inadmissible since, as can be seen in the
text of this document, there was no violation of the right to free expression,
to a fair trial, or to judicial protection, and neither have the domestic
remedies available to the petitioners been exhausted. From the actions taken by the Mexican State to establish the facts
described in this case, it can be seen that Mexico neither tolerates nor assents
to these alleged incidents.
75. In this
regard the IACHR must reiterate that the admissibility of the case is not an
issue at this stage in the proceedings, since it was already decided on at the
appropriate time. Taking into
consideration all the above, it is clear that the Mexican State has not taken
the steps necessary to comply with the recommendations of Report Nº 18/99.
The Commission recalls the following statement by the Inter-American
Court: In
accordance with the principle of good faith, embodied in the aforesaid Article
31(1) of the Vienna Convention, if a State signs and ratifies an international
treaty, especially one concerning human rights, such as the American Convention,
it has the obligation to make every effort to apply with the recommendations of
a protection organ such as the Inter-American Commission, which is, indeed, one
of the principal organs of the Organization of American States, whose function
is “to promote the observance and defense of human rights” in the
hemisphere.[33] VI. CONCLUSIONS
76. The
Commission concludes that the State violated, to the detriment of Víctor Manuel
Oropeza and all citizens, the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by
Article 13 of the American Convention; and, to the detriment of his family, the
right to a fair trial and judicial protection protected by Articles 8 and 25 of
the same Convention as they relate to the general obligation to respect and
guarantee the rights referred to in Article 1(1) of the Convention.
On the other hand, the IACHR does not have grounds to establish that the
Mexican State is responsible for violation of the rights to life, humane
treatment, and equal protection of the law. VII.
RECOMMENDATIONS
77.
Based on the analysis and conclusions in this report, THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS REITERATES THE FOLLOWING
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE MEXICAN STATE:
1.
Investigate in a complete, impartial, and effective manner in order
to determine the criminal responsibility of all of the perpetrators of Víctor
Manual Oropeza’s assassination. 2.
Investigate in a complete, impartial, and effective manner in order to
determine whether cover-up actions were taken and crimes were committed against
the Administration of Justice, including the possible participation of judicial
personnel, which impeded the complete investigation of the facts addressed in
this report; and, as appropriate, apply criminal, administrative, and/or
disciplinary sanctions. 3.
Provide redress and proper compensation to the family members of Víctor
Manuel Oropeza for the violations established herein.
VIII.
PUBLICATION
78. On
Octobe 4, 1999, the Commission sent Report Nº 93/99--the text of which is
above--to the Mexican State and to the petitioners, in keeping with Article
51(2) of the American Convention; and it set a deadline of one month for the
State to comply with the foregoing recommendations. On November 4, 1999, the State sent a communication
containing observations on the facts and the law, which essentially constitute
the repetition of its position during the proceedings in this case, and which
have already been analyzed at the appropriate stage. In accordance with Article 51(2), the Commission, in this
phase of the process, shall confine itself to assessing the measures taken by
the Mexican State to comply with the recommendations and to remedy the situation
under review.
79. The
State’s information on the recommendations issued by the IACHR in Report Nº
93/99 mentions the two investigations opened by the Office of the PGJ in
Chihuahua, and it indicates that “the
first one was initiated by the authorities and the second one, which is still in
the preliminary stage, was opened on the basis of a report that pointed to the
sons of the journalist as the murderers; they, in turn, accused Oropeza’s wife
for the crime”. The State adds
that “under its powers, the Office of the PGJ may still appear before the
jurisdictional organs to request criminal proceedings if new evidence is
found”. Therefore, the State
considers that domestic remedies have not been exhausted, and that the
exceptions do not apply to this case because of the complex nature of the
investigation. The State adds that
“the investigations carried out so far show no evidence of any obstruction of
justice or similar crimes in this case” and that
“reparations for the damages must be requested by the Office of the PGJ
under its powers; the courts shall establish the amount in the sentence on the
case”.
80. The
Commission will not address the State’s arguments on admissibility, since they
were already discussed in the appropriate stage of the proceedings.
As to the information supplied by the Mexican State regarding the
recommendations of Report Nº 93/99, the IACHR considers that the State has not
adopted any measure to comply with them. The
Commission also considers that the position assumed by the State, which consists
of presenting arguments on admissibility after the Commission has issued a
decision on the merits of the case, reveals the unwillingness to comply with the
recommendations in this case. 81. Accordingly, and pursuant to Articles 51(3) of the American Convention and 48 of the Commission’s Regulations, the Commission decides: to reiterate the conclusions and recommendations contained in Chapters VI and VII supra; to publish this report; and to include it in the Commission’s Annual Report to the General Assembly of the OAS. Pursuant to the provisions contained in the instruments governing its mandate, the IACHR will continue to evaluate the measur |