3 4. On February 11, 1988, the Commission transmitted the petition in which Ms. Paniagua-Morales’ abduction was denounced to the State and asked it to provide information. On February 16 of the same year, Guatemala confirmed the victim’s disappearance and the discovery of her body and reported that the competent authorities were investigating the case. 5. On February 11 and March 2, 1988, and February 13, 1989, the petitioners supplied the Commission with additional information on the circumstances of Ms. Paniagua-Morales’ abduction; in the last communication they denounced the murder of a young student, Erik Leonardo Chinchilla, which occurred on February 17, 1988, and later asked for that victim to be included in the case. 6. On April 23 and May 11, 1990, the State informed the Commission of some progress made with the investigation of the case and lodged the objection of nonexhaustion of domestic remedies; it also requested that the case be struck from the Commission’s list of cases against Guatemala. It reiterated the same request, based on that argument, on October 3 and 15, 1990. 7. On September 28, 1990, during its 78th session, and on September 23, 1991, at its 80th session, the Commission held hearings on the case, which were attended by representatives of both parties. 8. On November 28, 1990, the State informed the Commission that the Domestic Judicial proceedings against Mr. Oscar Augusto Díaz-Urquizú, former Director of the Treasury Police ["Guardia de Hacienda"], had been dismissed on the grounds of "insufficient evidence to try [him] for the crime of abuse of authority." 9. On December 30, 1991, the petitioners submitted to the Commission an expanded list of victims, in keeping with their previous position that the case involved an indeterminate number of victims. It stated that "five other persons had been abducted and murdered; five others had been abducted and unlawfully detained. All the additional persons named had been previously identified as victims in the police and judicial investigation conducted in Guatemala." 10. On May 14, 1992, the pertinent parts of this communication were transmitted to the State. Despite two requests for an extension of time for supplying new information on the case, the State never submitted this information, nor its final comments. 11. On July 23 and again on August 5, 1993, the Commission offered its services to the parties in order to facilitate a friendly settlement in the case. Both the State and the petitioners expressed their interest in reaching an agreement and made various representations to that effect; the former even requested information as to the potential beneficiaries. However, as of May 1994 the State ceased to respond favorably to the Commission’s attempts at a friendly settlement, and on July 28, 1994, the petitioners informed the Commission that they considered the friendly settlement proceeding to be at an end. 12. On September 11, 1994, five days prior to the final hearing on this case before the Commission, Mr. Oscar Vásquez, a victim and witness in the case, and his son were murdered. 13. On September 16, 1994, during the 87th Regular Session of the Commission, another hearing was held at the petitioners’ request and was attended by