17 43(16) On August 25, 2000, Mr. Raxcacó Reyes filed an application for amparo against the said ruling of the Supreme Court of Justice (supra para. 43(15)), which was rejected by the Constitutional Court on June 28, 2001, in a judgment from which there is no appeal.22 In its decision, the Constitutional Court concluded, inter alia, that: (a) the application of the death penalty for serious crimes, including the crime of kidnapping, is possible; (b) there is no incompatibility between the different reforms of Article 201 of the Penal Code and the American Convention, because the legislators have extended the application of the punishment based on the criterion of the perpetrator of the crime of kidnapping, an extension that is not prohibited by the Convention, since it is the same crime for which this punishment had already been established when the Convention entered into force, and (c) the application of reformed Article 201 of the Penal Code by the Guatemalan courts in the case of Mr. Raxcacó Reyes did not violate Article 46 of the Guatemalan Constitution or Article 4(2) of the Convention, “even in the case of a kidnapping or abduction that was not followed by the death of the victim.” Petition for pardon and clemency before the domestic authorities 43(17) On June 1, 2000, in Legislative Decree No. 32/00,23 the Congress of Guatemala annulled Decree No. 159 of 1892,24 which established the power of the Executive Branch to grant pardon or commutation of sentence and regulated the procedure to put this right into effect. Congress gave the following reasons for annulling Decree No. 159: That the National Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Guatemala adopted Decree No. 159 on April 19, 1892, which regulated the power that Article 78 of the Constitution in force at that time vested in the President of the Republic to commute a death sentence and grant pardons in pre-established cases, a constitutional provision that, with some changes, was maintained in subsequent Constitutions until 1985 when the current Constitution of the Republic was promulgated, which does not provide for it. […] That, on May 31, 1985, the Constitution of the Republic promulgated by the National Constitutional Convention, in force since January 14, 1986, expressly revoked all the Constitutions of the Republic of Guatemala and any previous laws with similar effects, and established the independence of the branches of government, by declaring that sovereignty is rooted in the people, which delegates its exercise to the Legislative, Executive and Judicial Organs, among which subordination etcetera is prohibited; and the power to judge and execute judgment corresponds exclusively to the Judiciary and no other authority may intervene in the administration of justice. […] 22 Cf. judgment delivered by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala on June 28, 2001 (file of appendixes to the application, appendix 11, folios 223 and 247). 23 Cf. copy of Legislative Decree No. 32/00 issued by the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala on May 11, 2000 (file of helpful evidence submitted by the State, appendix 5, folio 699). 24 Cf. copy of Legislative Decree No. 159 issued by the National Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Guatemala on April 20, 1892 (file of helpful evidence submitted by the State, appendix 5, folios 697 and 698).