Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña v. Bolivia
Legal Relevance
Keywords: Deprivation of Liberty | Juridical Personality | Right to Know the Truth | Duty to Investigate | Duty to Prosecute | Admissibility
Themes: Characteristics of the Crime | Justice and Truth
The Court reiterated that the phenomenon of enforced disappearances requires a systematic and comprehensive analysis. This is due to the fact that enforced disappearances entail numerous behaviours which, for so long as they continue, permanently violate the legal rights protected by the Convention. The Court emphasised that the permanent nature of the enforced disappearance does not cease when it is claimed that the remains of a specific person have been found. Rather, this must be accompanied by the performance of tests or analyses that make it possible to establish that the remains do indeed belong to that person.
Judgment Date
September 1, 2010
Country
Bolivia
Judicial Body
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Articles violated
Article 1(1) [ACHR], Article 1(2) [ACHR], Article 3 [ACHR], Article 4(1) [ACHR], Article 5(1) [ACHR], Article 5(2) [ACHR], Article 7(1) [ACHR], Article 8(1) [ACHR], Article 24 [ACHR], Article 25(1) [ACHR], Article 1(a) [IACFDP], Article 1(b) [IACFDP], Article 11 [IACFDP]
Articles not violated / not dealt with
Article 24 [ACHR]
Facts of the Case
Mr. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas, a university student, was arrested in the city of Santa Cruz in October 1971 in the context of the military dictatorship of Colonel Hugo Banzer Suárez, which began in August of the same year and was characterised by the repression of groups and individuals who were considered enemies or opponents. Mr. Ibsen Cárdenas was accused of being a member of the National Liberation Army, and his deprivation of liberty lasted about nine months.
According to witnesses, in June 1972, at least three detainees, including Mr. Ibsen Cárdenas, were extrajudicially executed in Achocalla detention centre. However, Mr. Ibsen Cárdenas' death was claimed to have been the result of a failed attempt to escape. In 1983, the National Commission for the Investigation of Forced Disappeared Persons announced that it had found a mass grave which contained the remains of Mr. Ibsen Cárdenas amongst those of many others. However, it was only 25 years later, in 2008, that the remains were identified through a forensic examination, and handed over to the relatives.
Mr. José Luis Ibsen Peña, Mr. Rainer Ibsen Cárdenas' father, was arrested by State security agents on 10 February 1973 and taken to the El Pari detention centre in Santa Cruz. On 28 February 1973, State agents informed his relatives that he had been exiled to Brazil, but the Consulate denied this version of events. Despite various legal actions, at the time of proceedings, Mr. Ibsen Peña's whereabouts remained unknown and those responsible had not been punished.
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