Nadege Dorzema et al. v. Dominican Republic (Merits, Reparations, Costs) IACtHR Series C No 251 (24 October 2012)

Dominican officials opened fire on a truck eluding a checkpoint that contained Haitian individuals being trafficked across the Dominican border.  The position of the State was that the use of lethal force was based on what facts were assumed at the time, including the suspicion that the truck contained packages of illegal drugs, not human beings.  This resulted in the death of four individuals and serious injury to many others.  The Court held that the use of lethal force—even if the truck contained smuggled drugs--failed to meet the requirements of necessity and proportionality.  The Court concluded that the disproportionate use of force led to arbitrary deprivations of life of the four murdered individuals.