Oroza (Case of José Carlos Trujillo)
Legal Relevance
Keywords: Statute of Limitations | Deprivation of Liberty | Relatives as Victims
Themes: Characteristics of the Crime
The Court found that the crime of illegal deprivation of liberty is a permanent crime which continues until the victim’s whereabouts are found, this being the point from which a statute of limitation can start to run. Taking into account that the victim was still disappeared, it held that the case was not out of time due to a statute of limitation. In light of the above, the Court found that the application of the statute of limitations violated the victims’ mother's right to legal certainty, and ordered the continuation of the proceedings against the accused.
Judgment Date
November 21, 2001
Country
Bolivia
Judicial Body
Bolivia - Constitutional Court
Facts of the Case
Mr. José Carlos Trujillo Oroza, a university student, was arrested without an order in December 1971, taken to a police station and then transferred to a prison. He was last seen in January and February 1972 by his mother, bearing signs of physical and psychological torture. From then on, Mr. Trujillo Oroza's mother tried to obtain information about his whereabouts, without success. In 1994, the State accepted its responsibility for the events before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, but failed to comply with the Commission's recommendations. In 1999, the police started investigating the events. In January 2000, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the State responsible for Mr. Trujillo Oroza's disappearance, and ordered the identification, prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators. Mr. Trujillo Oroza's whereabouts were still unknown at the time of the proceedings.