and to punish, as appropriate, those responsible for the facts set out in the application [sic], once they have been individualized and their criminal or administrative responsibility determined by the competent authorities.” 325. In previous cases,500 when dealing with certain violations, the Court has established that the State must file disciplinary, administrative or criminal actions, as appropriate, according to its domestic laws, against those responsible for the different procedural and investigative irregularities. In the instant case, it has been proved that various State authorities obstructed the progress of the investigations and delayed the judicial inspections and exhumations, and this culminated with the application of the Law of General Amnesty for the Consolidation of Peace, thus perpetuating the impunity in this case (supra para. 299). Also, despite requests to re-open the proceedings made by the representatives, the investigation remains closed and archived (supra para. 300). 326. Consequently, this Court considers that, as a way of combating impunity, the State must, within a reasonable time, investigate, through it competent public institutions, the conduct of the officials who obstructed the investigation and permitted the facts to remain unpunished since they occurred and then, following an appropriate proceeding, apply the corresponding administrative, disciplinary or criminal punishments, as appropriate, to those found responsible. 3) Discovery, identification and return to their next of kin of the remains of the persons executed in the massacres of El Mozote and nearby places 327. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to provide the necessary resources to continue the exhumation, identification and return of the mortal remains of victims who had been executed, according to the wishes of their next of kin. 328. The representatives asked the Court to order the State to initiate, systematically and rigorously, with adequate human and technical resources, and following up on the work already undertaken, any other action necessary for the exhumation, identification and return of the remains of the other individuals who were executed. To this end, all the necessary technical and scientific resources should be used, taking into account the pertinent national and international standards, and all the exhumations should be completed within two years of notification of the judgment. In their brief with final arguments, the representatives considered it necessary, as part of this measures to have the consent of the victims’ next of kin “because there could be cases in which the victims do not want their family members to be exhumed,” and that the State: (i) should gather the available information on possible burial sites; (ii) create a genetic database, and (iii) ensure training for personnel specialized in this area so as to be able to begin the work of locating and exhuming the bodies. 329. The State expressed its willingness to accept and carry out, within the reasonable time that the nature of the work requires, the continuation of the exhumation of the victims that remain pending. 330. The Court appreciates the work performed by the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team to recover the remains of those who had been executed, as well as the return of remains that was carried out by the judicial authorities as a result of this work (supra paras. 230 to 241). Nevertheless, the Court observes that the Second First Instance Court of San Francisco Gotera decided to terminate the exhumation procedures once the Law of General Amnesty for the Consolidation of Peace had been enacted and applied to this case (supra paras. 229 and 276). The subsequent exhumations were only performed on the initiative of Tutela Legal del Arzobispado (supra para. 234). Moreover, no other measures have been taken since 2004 to seek and locate other individuals who died in the massacres. 500 Cf. Case of the Las Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala, para. 233(d), and Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 257(d). 106