site.7 In the understanding that this last publication will be available for one year as of its publication, the Court finds that the thirteenth operative paragraph of the Judgment has been complied with entirely. In this regard, it assesses positively the efforts made by the State to comply fully with this aspect of the Judgment. c) Obligation to continue effectively, with the greatest diligence and within a reasonable time, the criminal investigation opened in relation to the facts denounced by Mr. Vélez Loor, in order to determine the corresponding criminal responsibilities and to apply, as appropriate, the punishments and other consequences provided for by law (fourteenth operative paragraph of the Judgment) 13. The State indicated that, in Hearing No. 272 of August 31, 2010, the Eleventh Circuit Criminal Prosecutor of the First Judicial Circuit of the province of Panama asked the judge of the case to issue an order relinquishing jurisdiction to the Darién Circuit. In response, the Fifth Circuit Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama, in Decision No. 52 of February 8, 2011, disqualified itself from hearing the criminal inquiry and decided to relinquish jurisdiction in favor of the Darien Criminal Judicial Circuit, on the grounds that the incident being heard was committed in the province of Darién, the place where it initiated, without disregarding the fact that the events also continued in the La Joyita Prison. In this regard, the State emphasized that this relinquishment “does not exclude the investigation and prosecution” of the events that occurred subsequently in the La Joyita-Joya Prison, located in the province of Panama, by the Preliminary Investigation Agency and the Combined Circuit Court of the province of Darién. Consequently, on January 24, 2012, the case file with the written proceedings relating to the inquiry for the supposed perpetration of the offense against the liberty of Mr. Vélez Loor was forwarded to the Criminal Circuit Judge of the province of Darién, and was received on February 10, 2012. In addition, the State presented information on the measures taken in the context of the criminal investigation, which included: (a) two site inspections on June 8, 2012, in the offices of the National Border Service; the first in the district of La Palma, and the second in the community of Piedra Candela, Metetí, as well as a third inspection carried out on June 21, 2012, in the former Police headquarters of the community of La Esperanza on June 22, 2012; (b) two sworn statements from residents of the community of La Esperanza of June 22, 2012; (c) request for judicial assistance No. 01/12 of June 2012 to the judicial authorities of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, under the provisions of the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, in order to obtain the sworn statement of Mr. Vélez Loor. In this regard, it can be inferred that the said request was presented to the Attorney General on June 11, 2012, and that, on July 5, 2012, the International Affairs Secretariat of the Attorney General’s office returned the said request for a correction to be made, and (d) on July 18, 2012, the National Directorate of Legal Advisory Services forwarded information relating to the identification of two police agents to the Prosecutor of the province of Darién. 14. The representatives observed that, following the Judgment handed down by the Court, the State “has taken very few actions to comply with the measures ordered.” In this regard, they indicated that the disqualification to hear the case by the Fifth Criminal Circuit Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Panama and the relinquishment in favor of the Darién Judicial Circuit was a matter of concern, because “this procedural measure seriously delayed the investigation,” because the disqualification occurred on February 8, 2011, while the case file was only forwarded to the prosecutor of the Darién Judicial Circuit on January 24, 2012, and it was only on February 10, 2012, that it was decided to declare the investigation 7 The link is as follows: http://www.mire.gob.pa/sites/default/files/documentos/derechos-humanos/CasoVelez-Loor-vs-Panama-Sentencia-del-23-de-noviembre-de-2010.pdf (last visited February 13, 2013). 5