IACHR files case with IA Court concerning enforced disappearance in Argentina

September 27, 2024

On June 30, 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed Case 13.105 against Argentina with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IA Court). The case concerns the enforced disappearance and subsequent execution of José Segundo Zambrano and Pablo Marcelo Rodríguez.

The victims were last seen in March 2000, and their half-buried bodies were discovered bearing bullet wounds in Godoy Cruz in July of that year. The investigation revealed that the two victims had arrived at the Los Barrancos racetrack with Mario Díaz, where police agent Felipe Gil and others attacked them. In his statements, Díaz implicated police officers in these events, but the courts issued an acquittal in 2004. This decision was appealed by the victim's family but upheld by the Supreme Court of Justice of Mendoza.

In Admissibility and Merits Report No. 330/22, the IACHR established that despite signs of state involvement in the disappearance and death of the victims, the Argentinian State failed to provide an alternative explanation based on a thorough, effective investigation. The IACHR concluded that the victims had been forcibly disappeared and subsequently executed.

The IACHR noted that while the victims were missing, the authorities denied knowledge of their whereabouts and classified them as fugitives rather than as missing persons. This misclassification is evidence of the absence of effective legal remedies and the inadequacy of the State's response.

The IACHR also noted a critical lack of diligence during the crucial first 48 hours of the investigation and identified multiple deficiencies in this process that contributed to the acquittal of the accused. The lack of meaningful progress over more than 22 years is evidence of the violation of judicial guarantees. The IACHR also concluded that the State had violated the psychological and moral integrity of the victims' relatives.

Based on these findings, the IACHR concluded that the State of Argentina is responsible for violating the rights to recognition as a person before the law, to life, to personal integrity, to personal liberty, to judicial guarantees, and to judicial protection, as established in articles 3, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, 8.1, and 25.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in conjunction with article 1.1. It also determined that articles I(a) and (b) of the Inter-American Convention on Enforced Disappearances and article 5.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights had been violated in conjunction with article 1.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights.

The IACHR recommends that the State of Argentina undertake the following measures of reparations:

1. Provide full material and moral redress for the human rights violations listed in the report.
2. Conduct and complete an expeditious, impartial, thorough judicial investigation to identify and punish all individuals responsible for perpetrating and masterminding these crimes.
3. Offer comprehensive physical and psychological rehabilitative health care to the families of José Segundo Zambrano and Pablo Marcelo Rodríguez.
4. Implement administrative, disciplinary, or judicial measures against those whose actions or omissions contributed to the denial of justice and impunity in this case.
5. Provide training for judicial authorities in Mendoza to ensure that investigations into disappearances comply with the standards established in the report and in the UN Committee on Missing Persons' Guiding Principles for the Search for Missing Persons.
6. Establish clear protocols for searches for missing persons in Mendoza, in line with the UN Committee on Missing Persons' Guiding Principles for the Search for Missing Persons.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly. They serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 229/24

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