and 7(3) of the American Convention and ordered that the arrest be revoked and
the restriction on his travelling abroad be lifted and the procedure under military
jurisdiction should be suspended. In defiance of the order, the military authorities
set up a special military tribunal, arrested, tried and convicted Gustavo Cesti
Hurtado. The state argued that Gustavo Cesti Hurtado ought to have appealed
against his arrest and the jurisdiction of the tribunal to try him in that any person
prosecuted
under military jurisdiction,
should have
opted
for presenting
a
jurisdictional dispute or requested provisional liberty. They argued further that at
the time the order was made Gustavo was not in detention and as such there was
no corps to bring before the Public law chamber
The Court in rejecting the defense arguments held that the habeas corpus petition
filed by Gustavo fulfils all the when there is a hypothetical conflict between laws,
the one which is most favorable to the fundamental right in question should be
applied and, when in doubt, it should also be resolved in favor of the nght to
liberty because liberty is the Prius of law.
That it is evident that the military authorities defied the order of the public law
Chamber in its entirety and proceeded to detain, prosecute and convict Gustavo
Cesti Hurtado That as this Court has already determined, the petition for habeas
corpus filed by Gustavo Cesti Hurtado fulfills all the requirements set forth in the
Convention, which establishes an appropriate method to ensure the liberty of the
affected person.
Once Gustavo Cesti Hurtado sought and obtained the pertinent
remedy, the existence of other remedies became irrelevant — even if it could be
shown that they were equally effective. As a result of the refusal of the Military
authorities to obey and execute the legitimate order of the Public Law Chamber
43