responsibility of the Council that examined [the] case.” The second report, which
“concerned the crew members, requested that the First Naval Zone initiate the
corresponding procedures given that there was a presumption of a crime, a matter that
no longer corresponded to the Inspectorate.” He also pointed out that he interviewed
one of the crew members, FCh.
134.
From the foregoing, the following can be inferred:
a)
that the officers and crew members made statements to SERINT, which
served as the basis for the reports prepared by the Administrative Affairs
Inspection Commission, among them FCh was interviewed;
b)
the names of the officers mentioned in that report coincide with the
names of the crew members who, according to the CEV report, were interrogated
and allegedly tortured by other officers so that they would testify against Mr.
Grijalva;
c)
among the statements of those officers is the statement of FCh, in which
he originally denounced several irregularities and made accusations against Mr.
Grijalva, which he later retracted, arguing that at the time of his interview, he
was subjected to severe pressure to sign a document previously prepared
against Mr. Grijalva, and
d)
that the pressures and harassment denounced by FCh were never
investigated, nor were the acts of torture to which the sailors who testified
against Mr. Grijalva were allegedly subjected, as mentioned in the CEV report.
135. This Court also notes that in his statement made on July 5, 1995, before the
military criminal judge of the First Naval Zone, Mr. Grijalva Bueno stated that he
“submit[ted] a cassette to be added to the proceedings and as testimony of the
statements made by Corporal [FCh], Sergeant [FB] and Sergeant [HM], which shows
how the Intelligence Service directed, pressured and tortured the aforementioned crew
members so that they would speak against [him].” Likewise, in his statement given on
October 19, 1998, before the military criminal judge of the First Naval Zone, Mr. Grijalva
stated that “[i]n the videos submitted as evidence in [the] proceedings, there is a
statement made by a former agent of the Intelligence Service [FCh], in which he
indicates that he was ordered to falsify documents against Captain Vicente Grijalva and
the group of crew members who were punished for the reports that he was forced to
make, and which formed the basis for the INSGAR reports.” The foregoing account was
reiterated in his statement before this Court, in which he stated that “[a]fter October
1992, they also began to torture the sergeants, among them HM, and the sergeants of
the Intelligence Service: [FB], [FA], [FCh].” Therefore, the Court concludes that the
judge became aware of the irregularities committed at the time of receiving the
statements of some of the crew members, contained in the reports.
136. This Court finds that in the conviction issued on March 13, 2000, the court took
into consideration the report of the commission of the General Inspectorate of the Navy,
which contains various irregularities, including the fact that it took into account the
statements of crewmen who were allegedly subjected to coercion or torture, contained
in the SERINT reports. Furthermore, based on the statement of one of its authors, Mr.
JL, the Court also finds that the facts contained in the report of the General Inspectorate
of the Navy regarding Mr. Grijalva’s alleged criminal conduct were not proven, but
merely confirmed that the allegations made were real, and that there were
presumptions of responsibility. Finally, the Court notes that the State itself
acknowledged the irregularities in the SERINT reports, due to the involvement of
various naval authorities who had a direct interest in Mr. Grijalva’s dismissal.
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