90. On June 25, 2002, the Public Prosecution Service filed charges for the crimes of murder, criminal association, manufacture, sale or ownership of explosive substances, coercion, aggravated robbery, and aggravated injury against Patricia Catalina Gallardo Ardúz, Freddy Cáceres Castro, Blas Valencia Campos, Mercedes Valencia Chuquimia, Norma Lupe Alarcón Castillo de Valencia, Oswaldo Lulleman Antezana, Carlos Eladio Cruz Añez, Carlos Enrique Castro Ramírez, Alfredo Bazán y Rosas (José Miguel Abildo Díaz), Víctor Manuel Boggiano Bruzzón (Juan Ramírez Ortega), Elacio Peña Córdoba, Raúl Oswaldo Lulleman Gutiérrez and F.E.P.M.111 It also filed charges for aiding and abetting and receiving stolen items against María Fernanda Peña Gallardo and Claudia Mariela Valencia Alarcón.112 91. The oral proceedings began on January 10, 2003. During the trial, most of the defendants abstained from testifying.113 However, F.E.P.M. made a statement placing on record the illtreatment suffered during her detention: I was surprised when they arrested me; they beat me, they humiliated me physically and morally and when they entered the house, they hit me and made me lose my baby, because I was pregnant. […] I want to tell you that when they arrested me, the police officer in charge of the investigation […] humiliated me, and hit and kicked me so much that he made me lose baby; I was two and a half months pregnant. And when we arrived at the PTJ they made us undress and spread our legs; they yelled at us that we were bitches, whores; my statement was taken while being threatened with a gun and being beaten. […] They put their fingers in our private parts; they yelled that we should die, as if we were animals; they squeezed my companions’ breasts; when we were in the cells of the Judicial Technical Police, the police officers threw water on us, we slept on the floor, there wasn’t even one bed; we suffered from the inclement weather conditions, we were taken out at 5:00 a.m.; they threw cold water on us and, during the nights, together with Claudia Valencia, they tried to take us out of the cell, and 111 These charges were also filed against another four persons who are not part of these international proceedings. Cf. Indictment filed by the Public Prosecution Service before the president and members of the La Paz Sentencing Court on June 25, 2002 (evidence file, folios 2567 to 2595). 112 The following defendants abstained from testifying: 1) Blas Valencia Campos (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 58). 2) Freddy Cáceres (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 61). 3) Mercedes Valencia Chuquimia (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 62). However, at the end of the trial she asked to speak to make a clarification and indicated that “I have been tortured just because I am Blas Valencia’s sister, and now I even have a dented skull, and my body has been beaten; I am not the same person as before” (statement before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court on May 16, 2003, evidence file, folio 516). 4) Norma Lupe Alarcón (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 62). 5) Oswaldo Lulleman Antezana (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 63). 6) Raul Lulleman Gutiérrez (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 64). 7) Carlos Eladio Cruz Añez (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 64). However, subsequently, as a clarification, he stated that, during the raid, he was the victim of a brutal beating, and that his statements were obtained unlawfully (statement made in the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, April 21, 2003, evidence file, folio 321). 8) Alfredo Bazán y Rosas (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 21, 2003, evidence file, folio 82). 9) Víctor Manuel Boggiano Bruzzón (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 21, 2003, evidence file, folio 83). Meanwhile, Patricia Gallardo answered the questions put to her by her defense counsel; however, he did not ask her about the acts of violence she had suffered (Record of the oral proceedings before the El Alto Second Sentencing Court, January 17, 2003, evidence file, folio 61). 113 27