disqualified by the Criminal Court of Appeals, after which a new expert opinion was ordered. This new expert opinion had not been challenged by the petitioners, at least not in the record of the proceedings. Finally, it added that the mere fact that the medical personnel who were the subject of the petitioners’ complaint were not convicted of the offenses with which they were charged, did not of itself mean that there were violations of fair-trial guarantees, insofar and inasmuch as the judges involved “have concluded that there was insufficient evidence to submit the aforementioned forensic experts for trial.” IV. ANALYSIS A. Competence 32. The petitioners have standing to lodge petitions with the Commission under article 44 of the American Convention and article 23 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure. The petition names as alleged victim an individual in respect of whom the State undertook to observe and ensure the rights recognized in the American Convention on September 5, 1984, the date on which Argentina deposited its instrument of ratification. Therefore, the Commission is competent ratione personae to examine the petition. 33. The Commission has competence ratione loci to examine petitions concerning facts alleged to have occurred within the jurisdiction of a state party to the American Convention. The Commission is also competent ratione temporis to examine this petition under the American Convention because the alleged facts occurred after the ratification of the American Convention. Finally, the Commission has competence ratione materiae because the facts alleged suggest possible violations of rights protected by the American Convention. B. Admissibility requirements 1. Exhaustion of domestic remedies 34. Article 46.1.a of the American Convention provides that in order for a petition to be admitted by the Commission, it will be required that the remedies under domestic law have been pursued and exhausted in accordance with generally recognized principles of international law. 35. To begin with, therefore, the Commission must clarify which domestic remedies need to be exhausted in the instant case for the petition to be admitted. The Commission notes that the subject matter of this petition concerns the suspected negligence by medical staff at the “Ramón Sarda” Public Maternity Hospital in the city of Buenos Aires, reported to have caused the death of Cristina Britez Arce, as well as alleged violations of the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection, said to have occurred in the course of the judicial proceedings conducted to elucidate the reasons for her death. In that regard, the precedents established by the Commission indicate that when a publicly actionable offense is alleged to have been committed, the State has the obligation to institute criminal proceedings and pursue them to their conclusion, 8 and that those proceedings are the suitable means to clarify the facts, to try those responsible, and to establish appropriate criminal penalties, in addition to enabling other forms of financial reparation.9 In view of the fact that the petitioners alleged the commission of an offense that is classified in the domestic system of laws as manslaughter, which is a criminal 8 IACHR, Report No. 14/08, Petition 652-04, Admissibility, Hugo Humberto Ruiz Fuentes, Guatemala, March 5, 2008, para. 64; IACHR, Report No. 14/04, Petition 11.568, Admissibility, Luis Antonio Galindo Cárdenas, Peru, February 27, 2004, para. 39; IACHR, Report No. 83/03, Petition 12.358, Admissibility, Octavio Rubén González Acosta, Paraguay, October 22, 2003, para. 23; IACHR, Report No. 05/03, Petition 519-01, Admissibility, Jesús María Valle Jaramillo, Colombia, February 20, 2003, para. 28; IACHR, Report No. 42/02, Admissibility, Petition 11.995, Mariela Morales Caro et al. (La Rochela Massacre), Colombia, October 9, 2002, para. 32. 9 IACHR, Report No. 99/14, Petition 446-09. Admissibility, Luis Alberto Rojas Marín. Peru, November 6, 2014, para. 44; IACHR, Report No. 48/14, Petition 11.641. Admissibility, Pedro Julio Movilla Galarcio. Colombia. July 21, 2014, para. 31; IACHR, Report No. 21/14. Petition 525-07. Admissibility, Baptiste Willer and Frédo Guirant. Haiti. April 4, 2014, para. 20; IACHR, Report No. 38/13; 38/13, Petition 65-04, Admissibility, Jorge Adolfo Freytter Romero et al., Colombia, July 11, 2013, para. 32; IACHR, Report No. 144/10, Petition 1579-07, Admissibility, Report Nº 144/10, Guatemala, Residents of the Village of Chichupac and the Hamlet of Xeabaj, Municipality of Rabinal, Guatemala, November 1, 2010, para. 50; IACHR, Report No. 140/09, Petition 1470-05, Admissibility, Members of the Union of State Workers of Antioquia (SINTRAOFAN), Colombia, December 30, 2009, para. 60. 6