I.
INTRODUCTION
1.
These written comments are respectfully submitted to the Honourable Inter-American
Court of Human Rights in the Case No. 12,449, Teodoro Cabrera García and Rodolfo
Montiel Flores, against the United Mexican States (Mexico) by the Association for the
Prevention of Torture (APT).
2.
The APT is an independent non-governmental organisation based in Geneva,
Switzerland. The APT was founded in 1977 by Swiss banker and lawyer Jean-Jacques
Gautier, who dedicated his later life to laying the foundations for a worldwide system to
prevent torture.
3.
The APT envisions a world in which no one is subjected to torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as promised by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. To prevent torture, the APT focuses on three integrated
objectives: promoting effective monitoring and transparency in places of deprivation of
liberty; contributing to the effective international and national legal and policy
frameworks for the prevention of torture; and ensuring that international and national
actors have the necessary determination and capacity to prevent torture. In its work
and functioning, the APT endeavours to apply the principles of a human rights-based
approach, in particular the universality and indivisibility of all human rights,
empowerment, accountability, participation, non-discrimination, gender sensitivity and
protection of vulnerable groups.
4.
The APT has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council,
the Organisation of American States, the Council of Europe, the African Commission on
Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the International Organisation of la Francophonie.
5.
The APT promotes legal and procedural safeguards for the prevention of torture and
other forms of ill-treatment.1 One such safeguard is the principle of non-admissibility of
evidence obtained by torture, otherwise known as the exclusionary rule. It is enshrined
in Article 15 of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) and Article 10 of the Inter-American
Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (IACPPT).
6.
The inadmissibility of evidence extracted by torture is one of the key safeguards
against abuse in the criminal justice system.2 In general, it is a well-established feature
of most legal systems, both national and international.3 The non-exclusionary rule
helps maintain the integrity of the trial system, because without it the courts would be
tacitly endorsing mistreatment of suspects. As such, systems which do not respect this
rule risk encouraging or even legitimising torture and other forms of ill-treatment as an
investigative method to collect evidence.
7.
Conversely, the exclusionary rule is intended to operate as a deterrent to authorities
who may be tempted to employ violent means to extract a statement on which they
plan to rely in a subsequent prosecution of the victim. It is closely associated with the
1
The expression “other forms of ill-treatment” is used in this submission as an abbreviation for cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment.
2
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
UN doc.A/HRC/13/39/Add.5, at §93 (5 February 2010).
3
See e.g. UNCAT Article 15, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Mexico (as revised in 2008), Article 20,
par A, s IX.
2