Third Parties in Criminal Proceedings in the Jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR)

The present study deals, in a broad perspective, with the issue of third parties in criminal proceedings, taking as a reference the precedents of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that refer to third parties acting or interfering in criminal proceedings. The aim is, in particular, to present the Court’s jurisprudential construction of the application of rights, focused on other characters in the criminal process than just the defendants, especially the victim and their families, witnesses, justice bodies and their assistants. To this end, initially, a brief explanation is presented about the functioning of the Inter-American Court and its peculiarities in relation to criminal proceedings. Then, starting from the observation of the relevance that the Inter-American Court gives to the protection of victims and their families in the criminal field, the study seeks to analyze the main themes involving third parties from the court’s interpretative perspective. Finally, it is noteworthy that within each of the themes of analysis, the subjects that are covered by them are also mentioned.