Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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18.To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the status of any investigation into the murder of an Irish citizen (details supplied) in Bolivia in 2009.[33969/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am very familiar with this consular case and I know how difficult the past fifteen years have been for the family. I want to assure you that officials in my Department remain in active and regular contact with the family. I commend the family for their resilience in seeking justice and accountability.

Earlier this summer, I met with the citizen’s mother to discuss the progress of the case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. I reassured her of my and my Department’s full support for the family’s ongoing efforts to secure justice and to establish the facts surrounding her son’s death.

I wrote subsequently to my counterpart in the jurisdiction concerned expressing my strong desire to see a timely and just conclusion to this case. I have also reiterated this in a recent letter to the President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In recent months the Irish embassies in the relevant jurisdictions have also raised the case with the relevant officials and will continue to engage locally on behalf of the family.

I understand that in recent weeks the Commission has referred this case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, submitted its Merits Report 394/21 to the Court, and, among other matters, requested the Court to require the State concerned to initiate a full investigation into the violation of rights identified in the Merits Report. I very much welcome this decision and I hope that this will bring about the justice that the family has so determinedly fought for over many years.

Please be assured that my Department will continue to support the family throughout the process before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.