indispensable for the protection of this right cannot be suspended.504 Articles 4 and 5 of the IACPPT reinforce this absolute prohibition as regards individual criminal liability for torture at the domestic level: “Article 4 The fact of having acted under orders of a superior shall not provide exemption from the corresponding criminal liability. The Inter-american Regional System 3 Article 5 The existence of circumstances such as a state of war, threat of war, state of siege or of emergency, domestic disturbance or strife, suspension of constitutional guarantees, domestic political instability, or other public emergencies or disasters shall not be invoked or admitted as justification for the crime of torture. Neither the dangerous character of the detainee or prisoner, nor the lack of security of the prison establishment or penitentiary shall justify torture.” No statute of limitations may be applied to the crime of torture,505 and governments remain liable for the acts of former regimes where they do not take adequate measures to combat impunity and ensure redress.506 Similarly, amnesties may not extend to the crime of torture, as this would “leave victims defenseless and perpetuate impunity for crimes against humanity. Therefore, they are overtly incompatible with the wording and the spirit of the American Convention, and undoubtedly affect rights embodied in such Convention. This constitutes in and of itself a violation of the Convention and generates international liability for the State.”507 In more recent cases, the Inter-American Court has explicitly stated that the absolute prohibition applies not only to torture, but also to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, emphasising that both “torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or punishment, are strictly prohibited by international human rights law. The prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is absolute and non-derogable, even in the most difficult circumstances, such as war, threat of war, the fight against terrorism and any other crime, martial law or state of emergency, civil war or commotion, suspension of Article 27(2) American Convention on Human Rights. See, for example, Moiwana community v Suriname (2005), op. cit. 506 See, for example, La Cantuta v Peru (2006), op. cit. 507 Almonacid-Arellano and Others v Chile, IACHR (Series C) No. 154, judgement of 26 September 2006, §119. See also Barrios-Altos v Peru, Interpretation of the Judgment on the Merits (Article 67 ACHR), IACHR (Series C) No. 83, judgement of 3 September 2001, §18. 504 505 112