CCPR/C/130/D/3599/2019
passage of time since the principal events of the claim (which occurred almost 85 years ago)
and the absence of a clear acknowledgement by judicial authorities of the violation of the
authors’ relatives’ rights after 1985,32 the Committee cannot conclude that it has jurisdiction
over a violation, even with certain continuing effects, stemming from events that occurred in
1936.33
7.7
In addition, the Committee considers that the authors do not adequately explain why
they did not present their complaint to the Committee in 1985, upon ratification of the
Optional Protocol by Spain, or, alternatively, why they submitted their application more than
eight years after the rejection, on 9 September 2010, of their application for amparo. The
Committee considers that even communications alleging enforced disappearances should not
be submitted after excessive or unexplained delays on the part of authors who have, or should
have, become aware that no investigation has been instigated or that the investigation has
lapsed into inaction or become ineffective and where, in any of those eventualities, there is
no realistic prospect of an effective investigation being carried out in the future to shed light
on the fate of the victims, the possible offenders and the whereabouts of the remains, given
that 85 years have now passed since the events occurred. 34 While acknowledging the
profound suffering, anguish and stress caused by the enforced disappearance of their family
members and by the attitude of indifference shown by the State party to their repeated
requests for truth and justice for many decades after the disappearance of their relatives, the
Committee finds the delayed submission of the communication to be incompatible with the
ratione temporis requirements of rule 99 of its rules of procedure and therefore to be
inadmissible.
7.8
In relation to the authors’ claim of a continuing violation of their own rights under
article 7 of the Covenant, read in conjunction with article 2 (3), because of the profound
suffering, anguish and stress caused by the enforced disappearance of their family members
and by the attitude of indifference shown by the State party to their repeated requests for truth
and justice, the Committee considers that the authors have not shown that this claim was
raised before the domestic authorities. It therefore considers that domestic remedies have not
been exhausted.
8.
In the light of the above, the Human Rights Committee decides:
(a)
That the communication is inadmissible ratione temporis under articles 1 and
5 (2) (b) of the Optional Protocol;
(b)
authors.
32
33
34
GE.21-06035
That the present decision shall be communicated to the State party and to the
Ibid., para. 6.4; see also Yusupova v. Russian Federation (CCPR/C/114/D/2036/2011), para. 6.6 (the
status of victim of arbitrary detention had been recognized by the court); and Tyan v. Kazakhstan,
para. 8.4.
K.K. et al. v. Russian Federation, para. 6.5.
Ibid., para. 6.5.
13
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