Disappearance, as the Committee itself indicates in paragraph 6.4 of its decision, constitutes a continuing violation. The continuing nature of this violation precludes the application of the exception ratione temporis and of the reservation of Chile, in so far as the latter cannot exclude the competence of the Committee with regard to ongoing violations. “confirm” the enforced disappearance. This analysis could be applied to acts that fall within the scope of the Rome Statute, but it cannot prevail in the framework of articles 9 and 16 of the Covenant, since the issue involves continuing violations of those two provisions. Indeed, to evade its responsibility, the State cannot limit itself to adopting an attitude of passive consent: it must provide evidence that it has used all available means to determine the whereabouts of the disappeared person. This was not done in the present case, and the undersigned cannot agree that there has been no violation of the Covenant. The solution adopted by the Committee entails discharging the State of its responsibility for the sole reason that the State does not deny the criminal acts, as demonstrated by the fact that it has taken no action to Communication No. 1102/2002 Submitted by: Semey Joe Johnson (not represented by counsel) Alleged victim: The author State party: Spain Declared inadmissible: 27 March 2006 Subject matter: Establishment of guilt of involuntary manslaughter by trial, right to a second hearing number plate and a false driving licence with the author’s personal details. The driving licence was withheld by the police and the driver was allowed to recover his vehicle. During the trial, the author constantly denied any connection with the aforementioned events, alleging that his driving licence had been mislaid, and that someone had used his personal details to falsify the driving licence now in the court’s possession. Procedural issues: Insufficient substantiation of the alleged violations Substantive issues: Right to due process, right to a second hearing, equality before the law Articles of the Covenant: 14 and 26 2.2 On 19 June 2000, the Madrid Criminal Court No. 27 sentenced the author to three and one-half years’ imprisonment for involuntary manslaughter, with a specific disqualification from the right to be elected during the time of his sentence and loss of driving licence for four years, and for two offences of falsification, with two years’ imprisonment for each offence, with specific disqualification from the exercise of the right to be elected during the time of his sentence, and a 12-month fine to be paid in daily quotas of 200 pesetas (€1.20), subject to deprivation of liberty of one day for every two unpaid quotas. Article of the Optional Protocol: 2 1.1 The author of this communication of 15 August 2001 is Semey Joe Johnson,1 a Canadian and Cameroonian citizen born in 1969, currently being held at the Torrendondo Penitentiary Centre in Madrid. The author claims to be a victim of violations by Spain of article 14, paragraphs 1, 2, 3 (e), and 5, and article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He is not represented by counsel. 2.3 The author lodged an appeal with the Madrid Provincial High Court alleging a violation of the right to presumption of innocence, an error in assessing the evidence—which allegedly contradicted the report based on the identity parade—and the absence of grounds for the sentence passed. On 5 October 2000, the Provincial High Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the sentence of the Criminal Court, on the grounds that both the evidence of the witnesses and the handwriting expert’s report produced in the lower court were valid and sufficient to prove that the author was 1.2 The Optional Protocol entered into force for Spain on 25 April 1985. The facts as presented by the author 2.1 The author was tried for allegedly causing a traffic accident that took place on 21 February 1998, which resulted in one person’s death. The driver of the vehicle that caused the accident had a false 1 Also known by the name “Joseph Semey”, by which he identifies himself in communication No. 986/2001, submitted on an earlier occasion to the Committee with regard to his sentence for another crime. 7