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RESOLUTION Nº 17/86 CASE
9344 NICARAGUA April
16, 1986 HAVING
SEEN: 1. The petition
received by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on April 9,
1984, according to which: ARISTIDES LOPEZ HUERTA, 25 years of age, married, a farmer and resident of the area of El Cedro, Department of Jinotega, was arrested at home on December 18, 1983 and taken to El Bocay, in the same department. He was taken away on board an IFA truck and there are two witnesses to his arrest. So far his whereabouts are unknown. 2. The
transmission of the pertinent parts of this petition to the Government
of Nicaragua in the note of June 18, 1984, requesting it to provide such
information as it deemed pertinent, as well as any information that
would make it possible to ascertain whether, in the case that is the
subject matter of this request, the remedies of domestic law had been
exhausted. 3. The
communication of January 30, 1985 which repeated the request for
information of June 18, 1984. 4. The repetition
of the request for information made in the note of February 27, 1986,
which informed the Government of Nicaragua that, should such information
not be provided within a period of thirty days pursuant to Article 42 of
the Regulations, the facts reported would be considered to be true. CONSIDERING:
1. That so far the
Government of Nicaragua has not replied to the request for information
made by the Commission concerning this case and that, in addition, the
requirements of domestic law have been exhausted. 2. That, by reason
of their nature, the facts that are the subject matter of the petition,
do not permit the application in this case of the friendly settlement
procedure. 3. That Article 42
of the Regulations of the Commission stipulates the following: The
facts reported in the petition whose pertinent parts have been
transmitted to the Government of the State in reference shall be
presumed to be true if, during the maximum period set by the Commission
under the provisions of Article 34, paragraph 5, the Government has not
provided the pertinent information, as long as other evidence does not
lead to a different conclusion. 4. That, in
addition to not replying to the repeated requests for information, the
Government of Nicaragua has so far not allowed a member of the
Commission and an official of the Secretariat to go to that country to
clarify certain aspects relating to this case, pursuant to the
provisions of Article 48.1 d of the American Convention on Human
Rights to which Nicaragua is a State Party. 5. That in its
observations to Resolution 17/86, the Nicaraguan Government stated that
Mr. Aristides Lopez Huerta has not been detained and no restrictions
have been placed on his freedom of movement in the country adding that: The
information supplied by the claimants does not appear to correspond with
reality. It is relevant to point out to this Honorable Commission that
the places where this person was allegedly detained are zones in which
counterrevolutionary bands enter and leave and in which a climate of
danger and movement typical of war zones exists. In such zones, in which
the backwardness is not notorious, there is not even a population
census. The above circumstances impede the rapid gathering of
information. 6. The
observations of the Government are a general response and do not address
the details of the facts presented by the claimant, for which reason the
Commission finds that these observations do not cast doubt upon the
conclusions to which it arrived in Resolution 17/86. 7. That the
General Assembly of the Organization of American States declared in
Resolution 666 (XIII-0/83) that "the practice of the forced
disappearance of persons in the Americas is an affront to the conscience
of the hemisphere and constitutes a crime against humanity." In
view whereof: THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, RESOLVES: 1. To consider to
be true the facts reported in the communication of April 9, 1984
concerning the arrest and subsequent disappearance of Mr. Arístides López
Huerta. 2. To declare that
the Government of Nicaragua has violated the right to personal liberty
(Article 7) and the right to life (Article 4) set forth in the American
Convention on Human Rights to which Nicaragua is a State Party. 3. To recommend to
the Government of Nicaragua that it order a thorough investigation of
the facts reported in order to identify the persons responsible, and
prosecute and punish them in accordance with the law and that it adopt
the necessary measures to prevent a repetition of such serious events. 4. To confirm
Resolution 17/86, to include it in its Annual Report to the General
Assembly of the Organization of American States, in accordance with
Article 63, g of the Regulations of the Commission, and
communicate it to the claimant. |