The Inter-American Court sanctions Bolivia for not investigating or punishing the rape of a girl by her cousin

Brisa De Angulo Losada, in the center, at a protest last March. Courtesy

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (I/A Court HR) sanctioned the State of Bolivia for not having adequately investigated and punished a rape and for not having protected the victim, who at the time of the events was a girl.

He also accuses him of re-victimization caused by the police, health and judicial services that investigated the case.

Brisa de Angulo Losada denounced in 2002, when she was 16 years old, that she had been raped by her cousin.

According to the opinion of the Court that has just been known, Bolivia breached its obligation to "guarantee, without discrimination based on gender, as well as the victim's condition as a girl, the right of access (of this) to Justice" .

The feminist associations that supported the victim all these years have described the ruling as "historic".

The Court found, unanimously, that Bolivia was "responsible for the violation of the rights to personal integrity, to judicial guarantees, to private and family life, to the rights of the child and judicial protection" of De Angulo.

The judgment states that "it is evident that Brisa has suffered deep suffering and anguish to the detriment of her mental and moral integrity due to the serious violations committed by the State."

It refers, in particular, to "the flagrant re-victimization" suffered during the investigation and criminal proceedings.

This treatment, which is considered "cruel and degrading", caused De Angulo "additional suffering to the sexual and psychological violence of which he was a victim."

At the express request of the plaintiff, no economic compensation was established and not even the payment of the costs of the process.

“What I am looking for is to make this injustice visible, not to punish the Bolivian government or ask for monetary reparation.

I would like to contribute to structural changes” in Bolivia and Latin America, explained De Angulo, who is now 37 years old.

For this reason, one of the main sanctions of the Inter-American Court against the Bolivian State has consisted of forcing it to publish the judgment in various media and to carry out "a public act of recognition of its international responsibility", in which it must express its " commitment to develop a comprehensive, holistic and transformative national strategy” to prevent and respond to sexual violence against girls and adolescents, especially incest.

Although in the past other American States such as Nicaragua and Ecuador were held responsible by the Inter-American Court in similar processes, the ruling against Bolivia is important because it requires the country to adapt its regulations to the international consensus regarding incest, so that this must cease to be only an “aggravation” of other illegal behavior and should become a crime in itself.

The ruling is also special because it demands that the country eliminate the crime of "rapture", which establishes lower penalties than rape for a supposedly consensual relationship between an adult and a minor.

"The alleged rape must be rape," according to Bárbara Jiménez, an expert at Equality Now.

These resolutions have the potential to be expanded to other Latin American countries that recognize the Inter-American Court.

Bolivian feminist Mónica Bayá stressed "the importance of this day for all survivors of sexual violence in the region."

Furthermore, the Court demanded from the Bolivian authorities that the country's legislation stop basing its definition of rape on the use of physical force and base it on the absence of consent, as established by international standards.

Brisa De Angulo had to muster a lot of courage to appear before the authorities to report that she had been raped by her cousin.

At that time, instead of welcoming and protecting her, police, health and judicial officials doubted her, forced her to repeat the medical exams, ignored her testimony and initially acquitted her cousin, forcing her to appeal up to three times.

In the end, the situation was taken advantage of by the defendant to flee the country.

"The Bolivian justice system denied me due process," sums up the woman.

Now Bolivia has to seek and obtain the extradition and trial of the alleged rapist, who lives in Colombia.

De Angulo is also outside her country, "hiding," she says, "from the pressure and threats that I have received for seeking justice for 20 years."

The Court has determined that Bolivia establish a protocol for handling complaints of sexual assault against children by officials at all levels and departments of the State related to these cases.

They must be trained in this protocol.

It must prevent re-victimization, for example, the investigation of the complaining woman's body must be limited to a single medical analysis, and guarantee the participation of experts in psychology and doctors specialized in traumatic situations throughout the investigation.

De Angulo received the ruling surrounded by representatives of the feminist organizations that supported her during this process and celebrated that "things are beginning to change so that no girl has to go through the same thing again."

Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS America

and receive all the latest news from the region