119 paramilitary forces in Colombia, when they file complaints regarding the facts suffer constant harassment or are murdered and even their tombs are violated. Despite repeated requests by the civil party, to date the authorities have not included various officers of the Armed Forces and of the police in the investigation, who with their remiss conduct contributed to the massacre being carried out; and p) the fact that the next of kin of the victims do not have all the necessary guarantees to file complaints regarding the facts under domestic venue, beyond the customary act of keeping identity under seal, not only impedes learning the truth about what is going on in the investigation, but also makes it difficult for them to collaborate or participate in it. Pleadings of the representatives 191. With regard to Articles 8(1) and 25 of the American Convention, the representatives agree with the pleadings of the Commission in that the State abridged the rights embodied in said provisions, and pointed out that: a) the investigation of the Mapiripán Massacre was not conducted in an effective and impartial manner. Ineffectiveness of the investigation is shown by non-identification of the alleged victims, destruction of the forensic evidence, negligence of the State regarding measures to protect the witnesses and attorneys involved in the proceeding in addition to nonidentification and non-prosecution, non-enforcement of arrest warrants and non-punishment of all the direct perpetrators and masterminds of the facts. The criminal proceeding was conducted in a biased manner to ensure impunity. This is shown by the actions undertaken by State agents to obstruct the investigation and by the fact that the case was partially assigned to military criminal jurisdiction; b) the authorities did not identify the alleged victims, they did not take the necessary steps to gather and preserve the evidence regarding the executions, they did not identify possible witnesses with the aim of obtaining their statements, and they did not establish the cause, manner, place and time of the executions. As a consequence of inaction by the authorities, almost all the physical evidence of the massacre was lost. Specifically, the authorities did not attempt to obtain control of the scene of the crime, to recover the bodies that were thrown into the river, to gather blood samples, or to take other steps to effectively preserve the physical evidence. Out of approximately 49 persons killed, autopsies were only performed on two corpses. Therefore, the case file lacks forensic reports that are crucial for the investigation to be considered and in-depth, prompt and impartial one; c) the State has not taken the necessary steps to protect the witnesses, victims and attorneys involved in the investigation of the facts. Specifically, attorney Luis Guillermo Pérez was forced to leave the country; d) interference by the military criminal jurisdiction seriously hindered the investigation and impeded ensuring a suitable recourse before an independent and impartial court. Furthermore, there is a pattern of impunity that cloaks human rights cases investigated by the military criminal jurisdiction;