7 death of Eduardo José, in accordance with Article 108 of the Venezuelan Code of Criminal Procedure, which provides that the prosecutor shall “direct the investigation of offenses and the activity of the police, organizing and supervising their activities as far as collection and preservation of evidence is concerned.” 38. The State says that two prosecutors for the Transitory Criminal Regime of Aragua State Judicial District were also commissioned to examine the case and that they, on July 17, 2004, submitted a motion to dismiss to the Sixth Court of First Instance Acting as Court of Control of the aforementioned criminal circuit (hereinafter "the Sixth Court"). The State adds that on November 9, 2004, an oral hearing was held at the Fourth Court of First Instance Acting As Court of Control of the same criminal circuit in order to determine the merits of the motion to dismiss presented by the prosecutor's office. 39. The State mentions that in the course of the hearing the Course of Control rejected the motion to dismiss and referred the record to the Office of the Superior Court Prosecutor for Aragua State (hereinafter “the Office of the Superior Court Prosecutor”), which rectified the prosecutor's petition. The State says that two prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General for the Transitory Procedural Regime of Aragua State Judicial District are currently commissioned and that they are “proceeding with a series of measures for the relevant legal purposes.” 40. Finally, the State holds that, in keeping with the Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure, as the case has progressed, all the necessary formalities have been conducted to determine responsibilities, as is evident, in its opinion, from the current status of the criminal proceeding In particular, the State mentions that the office of the prosecutor presented a formal indictment on April 6, 2009, and that a preliminary hearing was held at which the indictment brought against three citizens for the crime of complicity in aggravated intentional homicide was admitted in full. According to the State, this proceeding is currently at the public oral trial stage. IV. ESTABLISHED FACTS A. The Context of Extrajudicial Executions in Venezuela within the period of the facts 41. Taking into account that among the facts of the case are the deaths of five individuals, allegedly at the hands of state security agents of the state of Aragua, the Commission finds it necessary to explain the characteristics of this issue of extrajudicial executions in Venezuela. 1. International sources a. International authorities 42. During the in loco visit conducted by the Inter-American Commission in that country in 2002, it was possible to confirm the existence of patterns of extrajudicial executions committed by state police officers and/or by para-police or "extermination" groups acting with the acquiescence or 3 collaboration of police officers. 43. In certain cases, the pattern consists on executions perpetrated during faked confrontations in routine procedures, either in detention operations or raids. In these cases, the victim is murdered at the place where the operation takes place with the police officers alleging that the death 4 occurred during a confrontation with an attacker. In other cases, the executions occur once the victims have been illegally or arbitrarily detained and take place under state custody. In other circumstances, 3 4 IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Venezuela, 2003, paragraphs 321-343. IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Venezuela, 2003, paragraph 333. Citing: COFAVIC/Venezuela, Democracy and Human Rights, Bi-annual Report: January-August 2002. See also: PROVEA, Annual Report No 14, Caracas, Venezuela; COFAVIC/Parapolice Groups in Venezuela, 2005, pages 29 to 33; Human Rights Watch, Annual Reports 1998 and 1999.