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48(14) On January 23, 1992, the Legislative Assembly issued Legislative Decree No.
147 “National Reconciliation Act,” “granting an amnesty to all those who ha[d]
participated as direct or indirect perpetrators or accomplices in committing ordinary
political crimes[,] associated crimes, and ordinary crimes committed by at least 20
persons, prior to January 1, 1992, with the exception of the ordinary crime of
abduction included in Article 220 of the Penal Code.” However, the State considered
that the restrictions included in this law did not allow its general application to “all
those who, irrespective of the sector to which they belonged in the armed conflict,
participated in violent acts that left a mark on society,” which “was incompatible with
the development of the democratic process.” Consequently, the State emitted
Legislative Decree No. 486 “General Amnesty Act to consolidate Peace,” which
entered into force on March 22, 1993, granting an “ample, absolute and
unconditional amnesty to all those who, in any way, participated in committing
political crimes, related common crimes, and common crimes committed by at least
20 persons, before March 1, 1992, even if judgment has been delivered against such
persons, and whether or not proceedings have been initiated for the same crimes,
and this benefit is conceded to all those who participated.” In addition, this decree
established that, inter alia, those who had taken part in committing crimes of
abduction and extortion would not be granted amnesty.
HABEAS CORPUS PETITION FILED BY THE ALLEGED VICTIMS’ MOTHER
48(15) On November 13, 1995, María Victoria Cruz Franco asked the Constitutional
Ch amber of the Supreme Court of Justice to grant a writ of habeas corpus in favor
of her daughters, Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz, owing to their “alleged
abduction by members of the Atlacatl Battalion in [the] military operation carried out
on June 2, 1982” and indicated, inter alia, that “Captain José Alfredo Jiménez
Moreno[,] Officer Rolando Adrian Ticas[,] governmental and non-governmental
institutions[…] and the Salvadoran Red Cross c[ould] have information” on their
whereabouts.
48(16) On November 20, 1995, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of
Justice appointed a “university graduate” as “executing officer” for the writ of habeas
corpus to order “the authorit[ies] who [had] restricted the] liberty [of the sisters,
Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz]” to present them and explain the motive for this
restriction.
48(17) On December 6, 1995, the executing officer visited the Ministry of National
Defense and notified the “head of the Legal Department” of the Ministry [of the writ
of habeas corpus]. The latter stated that Captain José Alfredo Jiménez Moreno and
Officer Rolando Adrián Ticas were “no longer enrolled in the institution” and provided
their addresses, which “m[ight] not be the addresses where they [were] currently
registered.” On December 6 and 7, 1995, the executing officer visited those
addresses to find the captain and the officer. However, she was unable to find them,
because no one knew the former at the address she had been given, and she was
unable to find the latter’s address.
48(18) On December 9, 1995, the executing officer visited the Salvadoran Red Cross
and notified the head of its Tracing Office of the writ of habeas corpus; the latter
showed her a document certifying that on June 16, 1982, “a kind of aide mémoire or
report was drawn up[, which indicated] that [the] program to provide counseling and