attacks by either the Legislature or the Executive. Thus, from the start, the independence of judges constituted an essential element of the separation of powers. The independence of the judicial function can be conceived as a crucial factor for the democratic rule of law that, also, involves other related requirements, such as a regular, ordered and coherent procedural system, that is guarantor of legal certainty and the human rights of the individual.14 12. Furthermore, the independence of a Judiciary with regard to the political powers may be conceived as one of the constitutional mechanisms that prevents or obstructs the arbitrary and illegitimate exercise of power, and halts or thwarts its abuse or its illegal exercise.15 Hence, it makes sense to ensure that the imparting of justice should never be a manifestation of political power, or be subjected in any way to the organs of the State that exercise this power, because it would be useless to enact laws that limit the activity of those who govern if, later, during the contentious phases of law, they could influence the decisions taken in litigations.16 13. Evidently, the function of judicial independence in the democratic rule of law could not be overlooked by the Inter-American Democratic Charter (cited in the Judgment),17 in which, after reaffirming representative democracy as an essential element for the stability, peace, and development of the region, it establishes the following in its Article 3: Essential elements of representative democracy include, inter alia, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, access to and the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage as an expression of the sovereignty of the people, the pluralistic system of political parties and organizations, and the separation of powers and independence of the branches of government (underlining added). 14. Thus, the Inter-American Democratic Charter does not merely recognize respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as essential elements of representative democracy, and as elements of electoral democracy, but also requires the separation and independence of the branches of government, among which, in this case, the one relating to the jurisdictional function should be underscored. The role of judges in the democratic governance of the State includes recognizing to them a genuine separation and independence from others; in other words, from the political powers, not only in the personal aspect that corresponds to each member of the judiciary, but also in its institutional aspect, as a separate authority among the authorities of which the State is composed. 15. The ICourtHR has emphasized the democratic roots of judicial independence in various judgments and advisory opinions, and has also used the Inter-American Democratic Charter to explain the importance of judicial independence in the region’s constitutional systems. In this regard, I believe that it is important to mention that the separation of powers is closely related not only to the consolidation of the democratic system, but also seeks to preserve the human rights and freedoms of the individual, to avoid the concentration of power that can become tyranny and oppression, and also to permit satisfactory and effective achievement of the goals assigned to each branch of government. 14 Cf. Díaz, Elías, Estado de derecho and sociedad democrática, Madrid, Taurus, 1998, p. 48. Cf. Bobbio, Norberto, Liberalismo and democracia, translated by José F. Fernández Santillán, Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2001, pp. 19-20. 15 Cf. Díez-Picazo, Luis María, “Notas de derecho comparado sobre independencia judicial”, Revista Española de Derecho Constitucional, No. 34, January-April 1992, pp. 19-20. 16 17 Para. 221 of the Judgment. 4