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liaison agent, approved by the Court, accompany to all the trips to El Llano, Las
Majadas, etc., as organized by the Army in order to observe their efforts [...]; d) [t]o
request the President of Guatemala to appoint a high hierarchy officer of the Public
Prosecutor's Office and grant him/her power to consult the information registries of
the national Government and its agencies with the purpose of determining the
whereabouts of these men, who will communicate with the officer of the Army
already mentioned as to this information[, and e) to request] the President of
Guatemala to appoint an officer with hierarchy within the Public Prosecutor's Office in
order to be directly responsible of the investigation of these three individuals once
their apprehension is final and to appoint a Public Prosecutor if they are accused.”
9.
That during the hearing held in private, the State noted its will to comply with
the human rights obligations within the Inter-American system, which includes the
"fully compliance with the Judgments of the Court." The State repeated that the
obligation to investigate the facts of the case and, if applicable, to prosecute and
punish the responsible of the disappearance and death of Mr. Nicholas Chapman
Blake has been partially fulfilled by virtue of the fact that "there is one person
serving the sentence of 28 years imprisonment for the crime of murder of Mr. Blake."
To such respect, the State informed that Mr. Vicente Cifuentes López is serving its
sentence in “Granja Cantel” located in the department of Quetzaltenango.
Notwithstanding, the State accepted the responsibility for the delay in fully
complying with the “factor of justice” in the instant case. In relation to those people
for whom arrest warrants have been issued, it acknowledged the ruling regarding the
fact that such warrants have not been executed and it hopes that “these moments of
transition and reorganization of the State will allow expediting the proceedings”.
Thus, it requested the Court to grant the State the opportunity to keep insisting
before the system of justice and before the Government Ministry on the follow-up of
the necessary measures to find out about the whereabouts of the people already
mentioned. As to the measures taken by the State to fight the impunity in cases
similar to the case at hand, the State informed that it has requested the
International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to give priority to
those cases of impunity where the organs of the Inter-American system have already
delivered their decisions.
10.
That the Commission acknowledged the progress that the State has made as
to the payment of the compensations and the costs in the instant case and pointed
out the importance of the investigation and punishment of the responsible. By virtue
of the foregoing, it noted that the State should clarify the existing information in
relation to the arrest warrants issued; specially, it requested a clarification as to
when and with regard to whom the arrest warrants have been issued and if they are
still in force. To such respect, they requested the State to send a copy of the
existing arrest warrants. Furthermore, the Commission requested the State to
submit the documentation that proves there exists an officer of the Public
Prosecutor's Office in charge of conducting the investigation in the case at hand, as
well as that the Civil National Police, under the direction of the Public Prosecutor’s
Office, is taking some of the following measures: (i) to prove the last known domicile
of the suspects by means of the trips to the towns of El Llano and Las Majadas, (ii)
to conduct interviews to determine when these persons were last seen, which their
last known place of work were, (iii) to prove the data existing in the Civil Registry of
Guatemala, the Citizens' Registry of the Supreme Court of Elections, and the
Department of Motor Vehicles and (iv) if applicable, to prove the existing of current