42
witnesses whose testimonies formed the basis on which the members of Congress
initiated the impeachment proceeding that ended with the consequent dismissal56.
84.
According to the criteria that this Court has established, it is evident that the
impeachment proceeding to which the dismissed justices were submitted did not
ensure them guarantees of due legal process and did not comply with the
requirement of the impartiality of the judge. Moreover, the Court observes that, in
the context of this specific case, the Legislature did not have the necessary
conditions of independence and impartiality to conduct the impeachment proceeding
against the three justices of the Constitutional Court.
85.
In view of the foregoing, the Court considers that the State violated the right
to a fair trial embodied in Article 8 of the American Convention, with regard to
Manuel Aguirre Roca, Guillermo Rey Terry and Delia Revoredo Marsano.
XI
VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 25
(JUDICIAL PROTECTION)
The Commission’s arguments
86.
With regard to Article 25 of the Convention, the Commission alleged that:
a)
The three justices of the Constitutional Court who were dismissed did
not have access to a “simple and prompt recourse” which would have
protected them from the decision of the Congress of the Republic ordering
their dismissal, since it took three months to process the applications for
amparo that they filed; this did not respect the provisions of Peruvian
legislation on time limits and placed them in a situation of defenselessness;
and
b)
The Constitutional Court’s decision to classify the dismissal procedure
of the three justices as a “non-actionable” act, because it was a political
matter, prevented a jurisdictional organ from reviewing the dismissal
procedure and its legality, which meant the denial of the right to effective
judicial protection established in Article 25 of the Convention. As we can
infer from the facts, the dismissed justices filed applications for amparo
against Legislative Resolutions Nos. 002-97-CR, 003-97-CR and 004-97-CR,
which were rejected by the instances established to that end. They also filed
an appeal after execution of judgment before the Constitutional Court, which
was also rejected.
The State’s arguments
87.
Peru did not submit any arguments on this matter, since it did not appear
before the Court in the case sub judice (supra 58-62).
56
Cf. This principle in Castillo Petruzzi et al. case. Judgment of May 30, 1999. Series C No. 52, para.
154; Eur. Court H. R., case of Barberà, Messegué and Jabardo, decision of December 6, 1998, Series A no.
146, para. 78; and Eur. Court H. R., case of Bönishc judgment of May 6th. 1985, Series A no. 92, para.
32.