Governmental Response To Investigation of Alleged Human Rights Violations
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Government officials were cooperative and responsive to their views.
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued two rulings against the government in September. In one case, the court ruled the application of the country's 1978 Amnesty Law in the 1973 killing of Luis Almonacid Arellano constituted denial of justice. The court further ruled that the Amnesty Law could not be applied in the Almonacid case or other cases comprising crimes against humanity for purposes of closing investigations or suspending sentence against persons convicted of those crimes. The court ordered that the government pay Almonacid's family $10,000 for legal fees. The government accepted the court's ruling, and at year's end Congress was considering legislation to restrict the scope of the Amnesty Law.
In the case of Claude Reyes, the court issued a ruling regarding the government's refusal to release certain financial information about a forestry contract negotiated with a foreign investor in 1998. The contract was never finalized, and the environmentally sensitive project was terminated. However, the court ruled that the government had violated the plaintiff's right to free speech by denying access to public information without a valid justification. The ruling called on the government to provide all the requested information and guarantee effective access to public information in the future. The court also ordered the government to pay the plaintiffs $10,000 in compensation for legal fees and other expenses.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Chile
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