Chapter 4 • Independence and Impartiality of Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers the case before the Commission, were not so reinstated.51 In the view of the Commission, this failure constituted a violation of Principles 18 and 19 of the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary.52 As to the refusal by the Supreme Court to proceed with the two magistrates’ claims for damages, lodged fifteen years earlier, it constituted a violation of article 7(1)(d) of the African Charter, which guarantees the right to be tried within a reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal.53 ***** The Constitutional Court case dealt with by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights concerned the impeachment and final removal by legislative decisions of 28 May 1997 of three judges from the bench of the Constitutional Court. These decisions were a consequence of a complex process that had begun in 1992, when President Fujimori dissolved both Congress and the Court of Constitutional Guarantees. In 1996 the new Constitutional Court was called upon to examine the constitutionality of a law that interpreted article 112 of the Peruvian Constitution regarding presidential re-elections. After five of the seven members had found that the relevant law was “non-applicable”, although they did not declare it unconstitutional, the judges forming the majority were allegedly subjected to a campaign of pressure, intimidation and harassment.54 As noted by the Inter-American Court, the removal of the three judges was the result of the application of a sanction by the legislative power within the framework of a political trial (“juicio político”),55 and the Court concluded unanimously that articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights had been violated with regard to the three former constitutional court judges. As to article 8 of the Convention, it had been violated since the proceedings of the political trial to which the three judges were subjected did not ensure due process guarantees and, further, since in this specific case the Legislature did not comply with the necessary condition of independence and impartiality in conducting the political trial of the judges.56 As to the lack of impartiality, it was inter alia due to the fact that some of the 40 members of Congress who had addressed a letter to the Constitutional Court requesting the Court to decide on the question of the constitutionality of the law on presidential elections subsequently participated in the various commissions and sub-commissions appointed during the impeachment proceedings. Furthermore, some of those members taking part in the vote on the removal of the judges were in fact expressly prohibited from doing so on the basis of the Rules of Congress.57 With regard to the violation of the due process guarantees, the three judges in question had not received complete and adequate information as to the charges laid against them and their access 51 ACHPR, Mouvement Burkinabé des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples v. Burkina Faso, Communication No. 204/97, decision adopted during the 29th Ordinary session, 23 April – 7th May 2001, para. 38; for the text see http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/africa/comcases/204-97.html. 52 Ibid., loc. cit. 53 Ibid., para. 40. 54 I-A Court HR, Constitutional Court Case, Competence, judgment of September 24, 1999, in OAS doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/III.47, doc. 6, Annual Report of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 1999, para. 2 at pp. 374-378. 55 I-A Court HR, Constitutional Court Case (Aguirre Roca, Rey Terry and Revorado Marsano v. Peru), judgment of 31 January 2001, para. 67 of the Spanish version of the judgment which can be found on the Court’s web site: http://www.corteidh.or.cr/serie_c/C_71_ESP.html. 56 Ibid., para. 84. 57 Ibid., para.78. Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 131