police officer José Mosquera was charged, as well as the transit police officers (members of the Transit Commission of Guayas) Pedro Espinoza and Victor Ramírez. The other two police officers, Victor Ramos and Carlos Torres were not even indicted. After having filed the criminal accusation, Mery Chanchay began to receive constant threats, both by letters and by anonymous telephone calls, and even police patrols began to circle her house in a continuous manner. Because of this constant intimidation, Mery decided to leave the country. 30. The petitioners reiterate that the criminal proceedings are not the only action that they initiated in the Ecuadorian courts. They also initiated two civil proceedings in which they claim indemnification on behalf of the relatives of Walter and Mercedes for the harm caused. Pursuant to Ecuadorian law, a criminal action can only be initiated following the filing of a complaint by an individual who has been harmed (Article 32 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that “the initiation of a cause of action by an individual will only proceed if there has been a prior complaint filed by the person affected”). 31. The Commission considers that the decisions of the special police courts and the civil courts, as well as the press clippings submitted by the petitioners, constitute sufficient notice to the State that these events took place, that judicial proceedings had been initiated and that State agents were allegedly implicated. Considering the facts of this petition, the Commission finds that there has been an unwarranted delay in resolving the proceedings, given that the events occurred in March 1997, and now, seven years later, they still have not been concluded. Furthermore, the State dismisses the implication that it has any responsibility in the matter for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the commission of a crime in Ecuador and inexplicably shifts the burden of initiating the criminal proceedings to the petitioners when the State clearly has an independent interest in the investigation and punishment of crime. The jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission establishes that when a crime has been committed it is “incumbent on the State, particularly in light of its obligation to take punitive action, to institute, ex officio, proceedings to identify, prosecute, and punish all those responsible, diligently pursuing every stage of the proceedings to a conclusion.“1 As in this earlier case, the Commission concludes that the time elapsed between the events and the date of the instant report was more than enough for the State to investigate the facts, initiate proceedings and punish those responsible in the domestic sphere. Consequently, the Commission finds that the instant petition is admissible by reason of the exceptions to rule on the exhaustion of domestic remedies provided in Article 46(2)(a) and (c ) of the American Convention. 32. The Commission recalls its practice, that invoking the exceptions to the prior exhaustion requirement of Article 46(2) of the Convention is closely linked to the determination of the possible violation of certain rights set forth therein, such as the guarantees of access to justice. Nonetheless, Article 46(2), by its nature and purpose, is a rule that stands autonomously from the substantive provisions of the Convention. Therefore, the determination as to whether the exceptions to the rule of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies provided for at Article 46(2) are applicable to the case in question should be done prior to and separate from the analysis of the merits, since it depends on a different standard of appreciation from that used to determine violations of Articles 8 and 25 of the Convention. It should be clarified that the causes and effects that have impeded the exhaustion of domestic remedies in the instant case will be analyzed, as relevant, in the report the Commission adopts on the merits of the dispute, to determine whether indeed violations of the American Convention have taken place. 1 Report Nº 15/02, Admissibility, Petition 11.802, Ramon Hernandez Berrios et al., Honduras, February 27, 2002, at para. 25. 6