9 de April de 2010 Press Release

Implicated in the disappearance of Heliodoro Portugal are to stand trial in Panama

San Jose, Costa Rica, April 8, 2010

The Second Superior Court of the First Judicial District of Panama called to trial wight former military men, who were allegedly responsible for the forced disappearance of union leader Heliodoro Portugal, which took place four decades ago. Among those on trial are called Melbourne Walker, Manuel Antonio Noriega, Moisés Correa, and Aquilino Sieiro Moses, among others.

In this regard, it is important to recall that on August 12, 2008 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the Panamanian State was responsible for the forced disappearance of Heliodoro Portugal as well as for the lack of an effective investigation in relation to this serious matter. It also established that the Panamanian State is liable for breach of its obligations under the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture and the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons.

Consequently, the High Court ordered the adoption of a series of measures to repair the damage caused to the victim and his family, among which is making a serious and effective investigation designed to identify, prosecute, and punish all those responsible of the forced disappearance of Heliodoro Portugal.

The Court’s decision is then an important step in fulfilling this obligation. The State has the duty to take measures to ensure the progress of the process, respecting the judicial guarantees for the family to Portugal finally achieve the attainment of justice.

However, Panama has not meet all of the provisions of the Inter-American Court ruling in this case since it still has not provide medical or psychological care to the family of Mr. Portugal. In addition, the State has not yet included in its criminal law the crime neither of enforced disappearance nor of torture, according to the standards set by the High Court.

CEJIL urges the Panamanian government to meet this obligation in order for the Portugal family to finally know the truth of what happened to Heliodorus, and properly identified and punished those responsible. This is a fair expectation to the admirable struggle that this family has been given for 40 years.

The facts of this case occurred in 1970 when the leader Heliodoro Portugal was arrested on May 14 by military personnel. In 1999 his remains were found in former military barracks of the Pumas in Tocumen. Nearly two decades ago his daughter, Patria Portugal, appeared before the judicial authorities of Panama to report the disappearance of his father, but the facts were not investigated effectively.

 

Contact in Costa Rica
Nancy Marín Espinoza
Press and Diffusion
Tel: 506-2280-7473/760

www.cejil.org

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) is an advocacy of human rights in the Americas. CEJIL’s main objective is to ensure full implementation of international human rights standards in the Member States of the Organization of American States (OAS), through the effective use of the Inter-american human rights system and other international protection mechanisms. CEJIL is a nongovernmental nonprofit with consultative status at the OAS, the Organization of the United Nations (UN) and observer status with the African Commission on Human Rights.

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