2001, on appeal, the same Court, confirmed the decision of the lower court to recommend for trial José Carbo Bajaña. José Carbo deserted and is currently a fugitive; as a consequence, the criminal proceedings are suspended. The statute of limitations on civil actions tolls four years after the date of the occurrence of the crime. 12. As regards civil actions, in order to claim compensation, since State agents were responsible for the crime, independent proceedings were initiated on behalf of each victim in April 2000. The case of Walter Huacón is in the 5th Civil Court in Guayquil, with the number 368-B-00; and the case of Mercedes Salazar is in the 7th Civil Court in Guayaquil, with the number 246-00. 13. As regards the criminal proceedings, there will be no judgment as long as the only person charged with the crime continues to be a fugitive. The petitioners allege that José Carbo is a fugitive with the complicity of his colleagues, who did not detain him (the charges against three were dismissed and the other two weren’t even charged). As regards the civil proceedings, the only way to claim reparations is by means of judicial proceeding for moral damages, which follows the ordinary proceedings, and is the slowest of all. Such proceedings may last for 10 years or more. The petitioners argue that this violates Article 25 of the Convention, which provides that “every person has the right to a simple and prompt recourse.” The State, in opposing any indemnification, has maintained that there is no final judgment that establishes the State’s responsibility; thereby creating a vicious circle, to the sole detriment of the victims of the violations. According to Ecuadorian law, Article 41 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that a civil action for indemnification cannot be initiated until there is a criminal conviction of the person responsible for the crime. The only civil actions that may be instituted without the requirement of a prior criminal conviction are actions for moral damages, which are independent of criminal proceedings. 14. As regards the civil action, the Attorney General’s office has maintained since the beginning of the proceedings that in order to have access to the administration of justice in order to claim indemnification for the damages, the plaintiffs must pay US$ 80,000 in judicial taxes. This renders it impossible for persons of meager economic resources to have access to the judicial system, and converts the civil proceedings for damages into a privilege reserved to the rich, rendering the only civil remedy available for the compensation of the victims, inaccessible. The petitioner points out that the annual salary of a worker in Ecuador is less than US $1,250. Dr. Socrates Vera Castillo, of the Attorney General’s office in Guayas in a document dated February 4, 2002, insinuated to the 7 th Civil Judge the possibility that he would be removed from his post if he did not order the payment of the US$ 40,000 judicial tax. In the case of Mercedes Salazar, the 7th Civil Judge ruled that that the judicial taxes (US $40,000) had to be paid pursuant to the operative rules of the year 2002 despite the fact that the proceedings were initiated in 2000 and the judicial tax was paid at that time. The judge of the 5th Civil Court, in the case of Walter Huacón, also ordered that the judicial tax of US $40,000 be paid, but later he retracted that order. 15. Both civil proceedings began in April 2000, and are currently in the discovery stage. By law, the discovery stage ought to last for ten working days. In the civil proceedings involving Mercedes Salazar, this period began in November 2001 and could not proceed to the issuance of a judgment due to the negligence of the Judge. Both the civil proceedings in the cases of Mercedes Salazar and Walter Huacón are effectively paralyzed. 16. The Technical Judicial Police did carry out an investigation and concluded that José Carbo Bajaña was responsible for the death of Walter Huacón 3