Report No. 2 (1997) IACHR. Case No. 11.205; 11.236; 11.238; 11.239; 11.242; 11.243; 11.244; 11.247; 11.248; 11.249; 11.251; 11.254; 11.255; 11.257; 11.258; 11.261; 11.263; 11.305; 11.320; 11.326; 11.330; 11.499 y 11.504 (Argentina)
| Case Number | 11.258,11.243,11.247,11.239,11.263,11.205,11.248,11.238,11.261,11.499,11.242,11.305,11.504,11.257,11.330,11.254,11.236,11.249,11.251,11.320,11.326,11.255,11.244 |
| Year | 1997 |
| Report Number | 2 |
| Case Type | Merits |
| Court | Inter-American Comission of Human Rights |
| Respondent State | Argentina |
| Alleged Victim | Jorge Luis Bronstein y otros |
|
E. REPORTS ON THE MERITS REPORT Nº 2/97 CASES 11.205, 11.236, 11.238, 11.239, 11.242, 11.243, 11.244, 11.247, 11.248, 11.249, 11.251, 11.254, 11.255, 11.257, 11.258, 11.261, 11.263, 11.305, 11.320, 11.326, 11.330, 11.499, 11.504 ARGENTINA March 11, 1997 I. INTRODUCTION 1. From October 1993 to the present, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Commission") has received numerous claims against the Argentine Republic, the common denominator of which has been an excessively prolonged period of preventive detention for persons who were subjected to criminal proceedings but never sentenced. In many instances, those claims were rejected because they failed to comply with the norms set forth in the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter "the American Convention") and in the Commission's Regulations. As of the date shown above, however, work was begun on the processing of thirty-six cases that did indeed meet the requirements established in Article 46 of the American Convention. It should also be noted that thirteen of that group have been set aside due to the petitioners' failure to reply to the Commission's request for information. 2. In all, twenty-three of those cases are now being processed by the Commission. Given the similarity of the grounds cited in the claims, the Commission has decided to consolidate these petitions in a single package and consider them as a group. II. CLAIMS PROCESSED BY THE COMMISSION
(+) Has now been released 3. As of the date of the present report, twelve of the claimants listed have been set free. The principal cause of their release is application of the computation method established in Law 24,390, which has been in effect since November of 1994. Articles 1, 2 and 7 of that law are transcribed below: 1. The term of preventive prison may not exceed two years. When the number of offenses attributed to the accused or the evident complexity of the cases have made it impossible to conclude the proceedings within the term cited, however, an additional year's time may be granted for just cause, and the corresponding court of appeals must be apprised thereof immediately for purposes of the proper control. 2. The terms established in the preceding article shall be extended for an additional six months when they have been met pursuant to a sentence of guilt that has not been confirmed. 7. When the two year term established in Article 1 has elapsed, each day of preventive detention will be counted as two days' of imprisonment or one day of hard labor while in prison. 4. Under the terms of the last-cited article, persons who have been tried and are being held in prolonged preventive detention are given the possibility of release by virtue of having served the term stipulated in the sentence condemning them to prison. 5. On July 29, 1996, the Government sent updated information regarding the procedural status of the claimants, including the following statement: ...In most of the cases involved, grievances resulting from prolonged preventive detention are no longer relevant, since the competent tribunals have ruled on substantive questions--in most cases, having satisfied the second petition--and the duration of preventive detention has been computed to tally with the length of time required by the sentence imposed. 6. In the same missive, the Government asked the Commission for closure of the cases at issue here, on the grounds that any possible grievances which may have been presented have been given suitable treatment and reparation. II. GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 7. The legal situation of the individual in preventive detention is highly imprecise: there is an aura of suspicion against that person, although it has not yet been possible to establish his or her guilt. Persons in custody under such circumstances usually suffer greatly as a result of the loss of income and forced separation from their families and communities. Emphasis should also be placed on the psychological and emotional impact to which they are exposed so long as that situation persists. In this context, the seriousness implicit in preventive detention can be appreciated, as can the importance of imbuing such action with the greatest possible legal guarantees in order to prevent any abuse of that instrument. 8. Preventive detention constitutes a serious problem in various member countries of the Organization of American States. In the specific case of Argentina, excessive use of this procedural mechanism, coupled with the delays experienced in the country's judicial system, has meant that more than 50% of the prison population has been deprived of freedom without being sentenced. 9. In the cases cited above, the petitioners claim that preventive detention and the excessive delays entailed in their criminal proceedings constitute a violation of the right to personal freedom as set forth in Article 7.5 of the American Convention, the text of which is quoted below: Any person detained shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or to be released without prejudice to the continuation of the proceedings. His release may be subject to guarantees to ensure his appearance for trial. 10. Moreover, the right to be released from preventive detention after a certain amount of time has elapsed is guaranteed by Article 8.2 of the American Convention, which provides that: Every person accused of a criminal offense has the right to be presumed innocent so long as his guilt has not been proven according to law. 11. In order to ensure effective judicial oversight of the detention, the competent court must be quickly apprised of the persons who are held in confinement. One of the purposes of such action is to protect the well-being of the persons detained and to avoid any violation of their rights. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has determined that, unless such detention is reported to the court, or the court is so advised after an appreciable length of time has elapsed from the time the subject has been deprived of his freedom, the rights of the person in custody are not being protected and the detention infringes that person's right to due process. A. Duration of Preventive Detention 12. The right to the presumption of innocence requires that the duration of preventive detention not exceed the reasonable period of time cited in Article 7.5. Otherwise, such imprisonment takes on the nature of premature punishment, and thus constitutes a violation of Article 8.2 of the American Convention. 13. The origin of the term established in Article 1 of Law 24.390 is regulated in the Argentine Code of Criminal Procedures, in effect up to September 1992. Article 379 of that Law--which cites the cases in which the judge may order the release of the accused--contains the following text in Section 6: When the time of confinement or preventive detention has exceeded the period established in Article 701, which shall in no case be longer than two years... 14. Article 701 of the Code provides that all cases must be totally concluded within the two-year period, without counting "the delays caused by activities of the parties, the processing of warrants or letters rogatory, the conduct of services of experts or any other procedures which may be necessary, the duration of which is not regulated by the action of the court." 15. In its responses to the cases presented to the Commission--action on almost all of which began prior to the... |
To continue reading
Request your trial