changes in the objects of the statements of the alleged victims, said modifications
do not affect the essential content thereof. Moreover, the changes were not
objected by the State or the Commission. Based on the foregoing, it is pertinent to
admit the statements of Wendy Santizo Méndez, Ismael Salanic, Efraín García,
Natalia Gálvez, Carla Alvarado and Froilana Armira. Likewise, the Court notes
modifications in the objects of the statements of Katherine Temple Doyle and Carlos
Castresana Fernández. However, such modifications are minor and they do not alter
the contents thereof, for which it is pertinent to admit them. The Court shall assess
such statements and expert opinions in time fashion, within the context of the
existing body of evidence and on the basis of sound judgment. The object and
receipt of said statements shall be defined in the operative paragraphs of this Order
(infra Operative Paragraphs 1and 5).
16.
As to the Inter-American Commission’s request to interrogate expert witness
Doyle, the Presidency recalls that, according to article 52.3 of the Rules of
Procedure, said body may interrogate, at the hearing, expert witnesses proposed
by the other parties when the Inter-American public order of human rights is
affected in a significant manner and the statement in question regards a topic
included in the statement of an expert witness offered by the Commission. In this
respect, even though the opinion of expert witness Doyle relates to the issue of
access to information contained, in part, in the expert opinion of Mr. Villanueva
Villanueva, the object of the expert opinion of the former specifically refers to the
instant case and Guatemala, for which it is not related to issues of the InterAmerican public order. Therefore, it is not appropriate to admit the request made
by the Inter-American Commission.
17.
Lastly, the representatives, after forwarding their definitive list, offered Mr.
Peccerelli as witness in order for him to refer to alleged supervening facts. Given
that it is a testimony regarding a fact that had occurred after the submission of the
brief of pleadings and motions and considering that the State indicated that it had
no objection thereto (supra Having Seen clauses 11, 12 and 14), based on Article
57.2, the Court admits said testimony. The object and receipt of said testimony
shall be defined in the operative paragraphs of this Order (infra Operative
Paragraph 1).
C. Items of evidence offered by the State and Commission's request
to interrogate
18.
The State proposed Manuel Giovanni Vásquez Vicente and Marco Tulio
Álvarez Bobadilla to be summoned to the hearing, who were, at first, offered as
expert witnesses and later on, as “declarants”. Regarding the first of them,
Guatemala indicated that the object of his statement would refer to “the
proceedings carried out by the State in order to investigate, prosecute and punish
the responsible for the forced disappearance of the 26 disappeared persons and the
search for their mortal remains, as well as the investigation into the illegal
detention and subsequent execution of Rudy Gustavo Figueroa Muñoz and the
illegal detention, torture and rape of Wendy Santizo Mendez”. As to the second
one, it indicated that the object of his statement would deal with "the actions taken
by the State [...] through the Secretariat for Peace in relation to the declassification
of state files that contribute to the historical clarification; the dissemination and
publication of Diario Militar; and the expert opinions rendered in support of the
investigations of the Public Prosecutor's Office, addressed to promote [the]
clarification of the cases involving human rights violations committed during the
internal armed conflict". In the definitive list, Guatemala slightly changed the first
part of the object of this last statement and eliminated a word from the object of
the first statement. The rest of the objects are identical to the ones initially offered.
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