Amicus curiae on the request for an advisory opinion concerning the figure of the political judgment or impeachment presented by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Abstract

This work concerns the request for an Advisory Opinion made by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on political judgments and impeachment, in order to encourage and broaden the debate on the subject. In this sense, the Núcleo Constitucionalismo e Democracia (Constitutionalism and Democracy Nucleus), which integrates the Centro de Estudos da Constituição (Center for Constitutional Studies – CCONS) of the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) Law’s LL.M and Ph.D Program, and the Constitutional Law Department of the Externado University of Colombia, have joined together as amicus curiae and presented their view before the Inter-American Commission, aiming to collaborate, theoretically and practically, with the Inter-American System of Human Rights (IASHR). The first part of this report presents comments on the consultation formulated by the IACHR, including the rules and structure of the advisory procedure itself. The second part deals with the role and legitimacy of international courts and tribunals – specifically, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) – for the protection of democracy and political rights. The third part refers to the core object of the consultation – on judicial guarantees and legality in impeachment proceedings and political trials against democratically elected presidents. Finally, in the fourth part, the Inter-American Court is warned about the importance of specifying the scope of Article 23 of the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR) in relation to the different phenomena occurring in the States that have ratified it. The objective of this work is to provide the Inter-American Court with a complete view of the content and concrete problems that arise from the request for an advisory opinion such as that formulated by the IACHR, as well as with a statement on the legal and factual context surrounding this procedure.