27 […] there’s engineer Urraco, who can also say that sergeant Perdomo got there about two in the morning and told us that what we had to say was we hadn’t seen anything, and he also said to say he hadn’t said a word to us, that he was telling us so as not to make things worse later on. […] because of fear due to the threats I received, I hadn’t made a statement because of the threat against my life […] only because of sergeant Perdomo’s threats.103 88. In a subsequent statement rendered on December 9, 2003, the same witness extended his prior statement, saying that: On Wednesday last week, at about ten to eleven in the morning, I was in the San José neighborhood along with my boss, the Municipal Head of Public Works, who was telling me where I was supposed to be sweeping, when ISMAEL PERDOMO came out and called me and said he wanted to talk to me, and I said OK, and he said that there was [sic] that we were going to see each other. […] On Friday that week my daughter […] told me some guys had come looking for me […] that day the person in charge of the cards at the municipal building said that two persons who had identified themselves as agents […] had come looking for me […] […] around midnight last night some men came to my place, knocked on my door and asked me to step outside because they wanted to talk to me, but I didn’t open the door, they stayed for about half an hour and as I wasn’t stepping outside they left […] Ismael Perdomo has something to do with this because of the words he said to us back when it all happened […] I fear for my life and I want to be told what I can do.104 89. Moreover, the Court notes that in the Attorney General’s Office 2003 technical-legal report, it was found that FUSEP, which was then under the charge of sergeant Perdomo, “DID NOT TAKE ANY STEPS aimed at arresting the possible perpetrators of the murder, did not set up police posts, taking an indifferent and worriedless position in view of the situation arisen, in an attempt to repeatedly throw […] the investigation off track or keep it completely stalled.”105 In this regard, it noted that: pursuant to the investigations, Sergeant Ismael Perdomo had a very active participation in the course of investigation from the day of the events; […] The witnesses Alex Dencen Andino and Marco Antonio Urraco stat[ed] that they were coerced by Sergeant Perdomo into refraining from declaring about the facts; and in the case of Juan Francisco Mejía, he was coerced to incriminate two individuals who had nothing to do with the case, in exchange for their freedom, since he was detained at Police locations for theft of a bicycle […] [Juan Francisco Mejía López is] a key witness to the resolution of this case, as the investigation team of the Bureau of Investigations confirmed that this young man was coerced by sergeant Ismael Perdomo into giving a statement against his two cousins […] it should be noted that, to date, the whereabouts of this witness remain unknown and it is the Police' task […] to find him so that he can render his witness statement before the Judge in charge of the case, so that sergeant Perdomo, who is involved in this case whichever way it is looked at, can be arrested.106 90. In confirmation of the above, later on Saúl Benjamín Zapata, the former prosecutor in charge of the investigation, stated that: the Police delegate for Tela then in office […] called to Ceiba to [report] that they had arrested a ‘minor’ who claimed to be one of the perpetrators of the murder, [when questioned]; [w]hich 103 Cf. statement rendered by Dencen Alex Andino-Alvarado on August 29, 2003, supra note 51. 104 Cf. statement rendered by Dencen Alex Andino-Alvarado on December 9, 2003, supra note 51. 105 Technical and Legal Opinion No. DCAT-SATJ- AFS 022/2003, supra note 31. 106 Technical and Legal Opinion No. DCAT-SATJ- AFS 022/2003, supra note 31.