III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. Position of the petitioners 11. The petitioners denounced that the victims they represent were subjected to extrajudicial executions that would have happened between the years 1992 and 1996 in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. In most ot the petitions, hey pointed out that in the context of the militarization that took place during that period, a series of confrontations occurred between the guerillas, the armed forces and paramilitaries for the control of the national territory and its natural resources, which lead to a strong stigmatization of various social movements and a series of extrajudicial executions of civilians whose deaths were frequently made to appear as if they belonged to the guerrillas and had happened during armed confrontations. 12. They stated that the manner in which the alleged victims lost their lifes fits the aforementioned pattern. In the cases related to the deaths of Mr. Gustavo Giraldo Villamizar Durán, Mr. Elio Gelves Carrillo, Mr. Wilfredo Quiñónez, Mr. José Gregorio Romero and Mr. Albeiro Ramírez Jorge, the petitioners denounced that the militarty criminal jurisdiction and a lack of due diligence in the investigations constituted obstacles to access to justice, in such a way that to date a situation of impunity would exist and the absence of an integral reparation to the family of the victims. With regard to the related case of the death of Mr. Carlos Uva Velandia, the petitioner state that even though it was determined that a soldier deprived him of his life, the lack of due diligence by the State to date precludes the next of kin obtaining an adequate reparation. 13. The detail of the facts and judicial processes of each of the cases shall be referred to in the factual analysis by the Commission on the basis of the information provided by both parties. In this section, a summary is made of the main legal arguments outlined in the merits phase. 14. The petitioners in Case 12.335, concerning the death of Gustavo Giraldo Villamizar Durán, which happened on August 11, 1996 in the department of Arauca, stated that the State incurred in the violation of the following rights: i) to life, by virtue of the extrajudicial execution and not guaranteeing the conditions that could prevent this act from happening; ii) to judicial guarantees and judicial protection, due to the lack of access of the next of kin to an effective recourse as a consequence of a series of omissions in the investigation, the absence of adequate technical evidence and the facts that could have been valued in the military criminal justice; iii) to honor and to dignity, by virtue of the State’s qualification of Gustavo Giraldo Villamizar as member of “ELN”, which affected the “good name” of the victim and generated public contempt for and persecution of his family. 15. The petitioners in Case 12.336, concerning the death of Elio Gelves Carrillo, which occurred between May 27 and 28, 1997 in the department of Arauca, indicated that the State violated the rights to life and integrity by extrajudicially executing him. They stated that it violated rights to judicial guarantees and judicial protection due to the impunity in which the facts are situated as a result of the implementation of the military criminal jurisdiction. They stated that the rights of the child were violated in virtue that the State did not adopt the suitable to avoid the death of the youth Elio Gelves Carrillo. They added that the rights to honor and dignity were violated by having unfoundedly announced that he was a guerrilla killed in combat. 16. The petitioners in Case 12.757, concerning the death of Mr. Carlos Uva Velandia, which happened on June 20, 1992 in the department of Casanare, requested that their initial claims be reiterated; these are, by virtue of the extrajudicial execution and the lack of reparation to the next of kin, the State violated the rights to life, personal integrity, prohibition of slavery and [involuntary] servitude, personal liberty, judicial guarantees, judicial protection and the right to honor and dignity, contained in Articles 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 25 and 11 of the American Convention on Human Rights, as well as Articles 1, 6 and 8 of the Convention to Prevent and Punish torture. 17. The petitioners in Case 12.711, concerning the death of Wilfredo Quiñónez, which took place between September 3 and 4, 1995 in the department of Santander, requested the inclusion in the case, as