67
c)
d)
e)
delimitation and official recognition of its communal lands and for
State lands to be identified in the area;
on September 11, 1995, an amparo remedy aaplication was filed
before the Appellate Court of Matagalpa, requesting suspension of the
“process of granting the concession requested by SOLCARSA of
MARENA” and for an order to be issued for “the agents of SOLCARSA
[…] to evacuate the communal lands of Awas Tingni[,] where works
are currently underway to begin logging”, since the disputed actions
and omissions “were violations of articles 5, 46, 89, and 180 of the
Constitution of Nicaragua, which together guarantee the property and
use rights of the indigenous communities to their communal lands”.
On September 19, 1995 the Civil Panel of the Appellate Court of the
Sixth Region of Matagalpa declared this remedy inadmissible because
it was “unfounded”;
on September 21, 1995 an amparo remedy application was filed before
the Supreme Court of Justice for review of fact as well as law to
dispute the decision mentioned in the previous paragraph.
On
February 27, 1997, the Supreme Court rejected that remedy; and
on November 7, 1997 the Community filed an amparo remedy before
the Civil Panel of the Appellate Court of the Sixth Region of Matagalpa
against the Minister of MARENA, the General Director of the National
Forestry Service of MARENA, and the members of the Board of
Directors of the Regional Council of the RAAN during 1994 to 1996 and
1996 to 1998, in which they requested, basically, that the concession
to SOLCARSA be declared null and that an order be issued for the
Board of Directors of the Regional Council of the RAAN to process the
request filed in March, 1996 to “promote a process to attain official
recognition and [c]ertification of the property rights of the Community
to its ancestral lands”. On November 12, 1997 this application was
admitted by that Panel, which summoned the parties to appear before
the Supreme Court of Justice. On October 14, 1998 the Constitutional
Court of the Supreme Court of Justice declared “the amparo remedy
unfounded because it is time-barred”.
130. In addition to those steps, on March 29, 1996 Alfonso Smith Warman and
Humberto Thompson Sang, members of the Regional Council of the RAAN, filed an
amparo remedy before the Appellate Court of Matagalpa, against the Minister of
MARENA and the Director of the National Forestry Administration of MARENA, for
having “signed and authorized” the logging concession to SOLCARSA without it
having been discussed and evaluated by the plenary of the Regional Council of the
NAAR, in violation of article 181 of the Constitution of Nicaragua. On April 9, 1996
the Civil Panel of the Appellate Court of Matagalpa admitted the amparo remedy
filed, issued an order that the Attorney General of the Republic be informed of it,
denied the request to suspend the disputed act, referred it to the Supreme Court of
Justice, warned the officials against whom the appeal was directed that they should
send a written report on their actions to the Supreme Court of Justice, and
summoned the parties to appear before the Supreme Court to exercise their rights.
On February 27, 1997 the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice
admitted the amparo remedy filed and ruled that the concession was unconstitutional
as it was not approved by the Regional Council of the RAAN but rather by its Board of
Directors and by the Regional Coordinator of the RAAN. On January 22, 1998
Humberto Thompson Sang filed a brief before the Supreme Court of Justice of
Nicaragua in which he requested execution of Judgment No. 12, of February 27,
1997. On February 13, 1998 the Constitutional Panel of the Supreme Court of Justice