The Paine case, main episode, against Nelson Bravo Espinoza et. al. : Imprescriptibly of civil actions and inefficiency of the res judicata exception in cases of crimes against humanity

Abstract

This paper reviews the judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice handed down in the Paine case, main episode, which, among its various aspects of interest, con[1]tains a decision on reparations that rejects the exception of res judicata, affirming the primacy of the right to reparations for crimes under international law. The first part of the article sets out the context of the search for justice for the crimes of the Chilean civil[1]military dictatorship, describing its progress and challenges. In the second part we will review the right to reparation as a principle of international human rights law and the jurisprudential development of the imprescriptibility of reparatory actions for crimes against humanity based on international law, reviewing the history of these processes, and the problem of those cases in which these civil actions were rejected, and the possi[1]bility of re-filing them. In a third section we will focus on the Paine case, and the discus[1]sion on the right to reparation, as well as a landmark judgment that gives precedence to international obligations over domestic law exceptions. We will end with a conclusion.