9 During the following days - or if I remember correctly, the next day - the Federal Police arrested two minors and informed the media that they were the confessed perpetrators of the murder of the deputy commissioner [...] Later, Dr. Atencio took testimony from the minors that had been arrested by the Federal Police, and I learned that in reality those minors had confessed to the Federal Police 15 due to the physical and psychological pressure applied to them by the police. 56. On November 11 and 12, 1996, Officer Alejandro Daniel Santillán was brought to trial in an oral and public proceeding before the Criminal Chamber of the Province of Buenos Aires. On November 15 of that same year, the First Chamber of the Criminal Appeals Tribunal of La Plata acquitted him of involvement in the murder of Jorge Omar Gutiérrez. It did so in finding that the evidence invoked in the accusation had not been able to overcome reasonable doubt and ordered that he be set free 16 immediately. In the same resolution, the Appeals Tribunal indicated that it had been proven that Deputy Commissioner Gutiérrez had been killed by one or more individuals through a shot from a firearm, as well 17 as that the case suffered from investigative failures. 57. The legal representatives of the family of Deputy Commissioner Gutiérrez responded to the acquittal by filing for special remedies of unconstitutionality for the nullification and inapplicability of law or legal doctrine. The Appeals Tribunal did not admit those remedies. In response, a writ of complaint was filed and on April 22, 1997, the Supreme Court of Justice upheld the denial of the special remedies. As a consequence, the representatives of the family of Deputy Commissioner Gutiérrez filed for an extraordinary federal remedy, which was granted, elevating the proceedings to the National Justice Court. On November 12, 1998, the Court declared that the special remedy that had been granted had 18 been done so improperly, and the acquittal of accused officer Alejandro Daniel Santillán was upheld. 58. On February 20, 1997, the president of the Chamber of Deputies Special Investigative Commission on the Probable Commission of Illicit Activities Perpetrated through the National Customs Administration, Mario Das Neves, sent a letter to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires, Dr. Ernesto Víctor Ghione, denouncing possible irregularities in the case against Alejandro Daniel Santillán for the alleged homicide of Deputy Commissioner Gutiérrez and 19 requesting that the case be reopened. 59. Mr. Francisco Virgilio Gutiérrez brought the two young people Cristián Iván Molina and Rubén Darío Nefle before the Special Commission to present their testimony on the death of their brother, Jorge Omar Gutiérrez. On that occasion, and regarding the statements they gave during the trial, Molina and Nefle indicated that they were tortured by officers with the Railway Security Superintendence of the Argentine Federal Police to get them to give the statements that they did. They stated that they both were in a video store, ready to go dancing, when they were arrested for not carrying identification documents. While they were under arrest, the officers tried to get them to take responsibility for the death of Deputy Commissioner 20 Gutiérrez. 15 Annex 4. Statement given on September 26, 2000, by Mr. Luis Elio Lofeudo before the Transitional Court No. 2 of the La Plata Judicial District. Annexes submitted by the petitioners in communication dated September 26, 2001. 16 Annex 9. Copy of the judgment of the First Chamber of the Criminal Appeals Tribunal of La Plata, November 15, 1996. Annex filed by the petitioners in communication dated October 6, 1999. 17 Ibidem 18 Annex 10. Copy of the report submitted by Dr. Marcela Inés Garmendia, Transitory Judge No. 2 of the La Plata Judicial District to the President of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Province of Buenos Aires, March 17, 2000. 19 20 Annex 11. Copy of the official letter from the Special Commission, submitted as an annex to the initial petition. Annex 13. Copy of the National Congress’ stenographic versions of the testimony given before the Special Investigative Commission of the Chamber of Deputies of the Congress of the Nation. Annex filed by the petitioners in communication dated October 6, 1999.