Judgment No 335-13-JP
power of the state, based on the basic norms and principles of the inter-American
human rights system.
FACTS
The plaintiff, who is of Cuban nationality, applied for Ecuadorian nationality by
naturalisation, due to a common-law marriage to an Ecuadorian citizen. In 2009,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, (‘the Ministry’) granted him
Ecuadorian nationality by naturalisation. 12 In mid-2010, the Ministry revoked the
plaintiff’s nationality, suspended his rights by virtue of nationality and ordered the
deactivation and withdrawal of his Ecuadorian identification documents. The
Ministry based its decision on the fact that the plaintiff provided a false document
and therefore did not comply with one of the requirements under Ecuadorian law
for the acquisition of nationality. 13
The Ministry published a press release with the names of the persons whose
nationality had been revoked by naturalisation, without individualising the content
of the acts of revocation. 14 Similarly, in the Court's file, there is no record of
notification to the plaintiff of the decision revoking the nationality. Despite there
being no record of the notification, in 2013, the Contentious Administrative
District Court of Quito declared the decision to revoke the plaintiff’s nationality
to be in accordance with the law. 15 In this regard, it should be clarified that within
the framework of the Ecuadorian judicial system, there is the contentiousadministrative jurisdiction in charge of the control of the legality of administrative
acts issued by the public administration. On the other hand, there is the
constitutional jurisdiction, which is responsible for the review of the decisions of
the judges of instance in the action of protection claim relating to human rights.
In 2011, the plaintiff had his Ecuadorian identification documents withheld
upon his departure to Cuba through Guayaquil Airport. He was subsequently
detained in the same place for more than three days and returned by the migration
authorities of Cuba. 16 In 2013, the plaintiff filed an action for protection against
the Ministry and other entities, in which he alleged that he was not notified of the
resolution that revoked his nationality, which was denied in the first instance,
appealed by the plaintiff, and confirmed in the second instance. 17
The first instance judges agreed that this action was not the appropriate
mechanism to define the legality of the act of revocation of nationality, that there
had been no violation of the rights alleged by the plaintiff, and that there were no
other means of legal defence to challenge the act of revocation. 18 Finally, the
second instance judgment was referred to the Constitutional Court of Ecuador for
review. 19 The Court then issued the JP decision.
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JP (n 5) 3 [17], 6 [33] (Salazar Marín J).
ibid 3 [18]–[20].
ibid 4 [22].
ibid 4 [25].
ibid 5 [30]–[31].
ibid 4–5 [26].
Action of Protection No 09123-2013-0171, cited in JP (n 5) 1 [1].
JP (n 5) 1 [2].
3