-64- Arguments of the State 110. With regard to Article 5 the State indicated that: a) “The children could have suffered harm to their personal integrity when the alleged facts occurred, but this suffering was not caused voluntarily, deliberately or culpably by State agents.” The children were found abandoned in the midst of a battle, so that, if the Army gathered them up and took them, this is a conduct that is allowed and obligatory in armed conflict; it does not imply taking the children into custody because they are detained, but responds to the Army’s obligation to evacuate abandoned children and orphans, handing them over to the Red Cross, in accordance with humanitarian law. In this regard, the State, after “rescuing [the children] from where they were abandoned, almost immediately put them in a helicopter and handed them over to a Red Cross vehicle”; b) The statements made by the mother and sister of the alleged victims both affirm that they were abandoned by their next of kin; and c) Even though ignorance of the whereabouts of a person causes great anguish to the next of kin, the suffering cannot be attributed to the State in this case, because it has been proved that a humanitarian organization took charge of the Serrano Cruz children. This organization communicated directly with the alleged victims’ mother. The absence of files that allow the whereabouts of the alleged victims to be determined “can be attributed to events in which [the State] had no direct intervention.” Considerations of the Court 111. Article 5 of the American Convention establishes that: 1. Every person has the right to have his physical, mental, and moral integrity respected. 2. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment. All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. […] 112. For years, the next of kin of Ernestina and Erlinda have lived with feelings of family disintegration, insecurity, frustration, anguish and impotence owing to the failure of the judicial authorities to investigate the reported facts diligently and within a reasonable time and to adopt any other measure to determine the whereabouts of Ernestina and Erlinda. The suffering of Ernestina and Erlinda’s next of kin has been aggravated because, since the case was filed before the Inter-American Court, they have had to contend with the fact that the criminal investigation before the Chalatenango Trial Court has been addressed principally at helping the State’s defense in the international proceedings before the Court and not at investigating the facts reported in the criminal proceedings. Also, because the prosecutor and the judge appear to have directed the investigation at taking measures relating to determining the existence and identity of the alleged victims and not to the crime that was the subject of the proceedings (supra para. 99). For years, Ernestina and Erlinda’s next of kin have seen how other families have been reunited with family