On September 8, 1998, Juan Carlos Chaparro Álvarez and Freddy Hernán Lapo Iñiguez were wrongfully accused of illegal drug trafficking. Both were detained for over a year for a crime they did not commit. Messrs. Chaparro and Lapo filed the recourses available to them requesting a review of the grounds for the preventive detention measure, but these recourses were unsuccessful. The Court found that the State violated the American Convention on Human Rights.
Case Summary: Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez v. Ecuador