-34identity of the alleged victims. During the investigation, the court did not order and
the prosecutors did not request any records in relation to orphanages or children’s
homes, despite the information received from the Red Cross (supra para. 48(18)),
nor did they try to summon the members of the Army named by the alleged victims’
mother to make statements (supra para. 48(15)).
a)
Testimonial statements of the mother and a sister of the
alleged victims, and summons of a deceased person
48(28) On May 6, 1996, the Chalatenango Trial Court ordered that the statement
made before that Court by María Victoria Cruz Franco should be expanded, to
provide “new information […] and witnesses who c[ould] testify about the abduction
of her […] daughters, Ernestina Serrano and [E]rlinda Serrano.” On June 4, 1996,
María Victoria Cruz Franco stated that “she c[ould] not provide any new information
or witnesses who could testify in that regard,” but “she believe[d] that her daughters
had been adopted by foreigners and hope[d] that they w[ould] return as had many
of the disappeared.” On July 11, 1996, María Victoria Cruz Franco appeared before
the Chalatenango Trial Court and stated that two new witnesses, Esperanza Franco
Orellana and Suyapa Serrano Cruz, could testify about the abduction of her
daughters; she gave their addresses. Seven months later, the alleged victims’
mother was summoned by that court to “provide the exact address of the witness,
Esperanza Franco”; at which time, she declared that “she d[id] not know the exact
address […], but would make the necessary inquiries.”
48(29) On June 7, 1996, the Chalatenango Trial Court found that “the […]
investigation had been sufficient.” It therefore granted a hearing to the prosecutor
“so that it could decide on the merits of the evidence.” On June 19, 1996, even
though Victoria Cruz Franco had stated in her petition for habeas corpus (supra para.
48(15)) that the witness, Paula Serrano, was deceased, the prosecutor assigned to
the case decided that the case had not been “sufficiently investigated,” because the
witness, Paula Serrano, had not testified. On July 4, 1996, the Chalatenango Trial
Court considered that the summons of Paula Serrano had been complied with “as she
did not live in the village [of San José de las Flores] and her whereabouts were
unknown,” according to information supplied by the local magistrate’s court.
48(30) On July 19, 1996, Suyapa Serrano Cruz gave testimony before the
Chalatenango Trial Court, and stated that some “soldiers […] took her sisters” during
a 1982 military operation in Los Alvarenga canton, Nueva Trinidad jurisdiction,
Chalatenango Department, and provided the address of Esperanza Franco Orellana,
proposed as a witness by the alleged victims’ mother (supra para. 48(28)).
b)
Procedural actions related to the International Committee of
the Red Cross, the Salvadoran Red Cross, a hospital, and the Attorney
General’s office
48(31) Neither the Chalatenango Trial Court nor the prosecutor requested any
information from the institutions named in the document that the head of the
Salvadoran Red Cross Tracing Office submitted during the habeas corpus proceeding
(supra para. 48(18)), to the officer executing that recourse. The document gave the
names of the places where the 52 children who had been brought by this institution
from Chalatenango under the program to provide counseling and care to the