been acquitted by the trial court and that a decision was still pending on the appeal lodged by the Attorney General’s Office on July 19, 2007. 4. Upon examining the information available in light of the admissibility requirements established in Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, the Commission concluded that it has competence to examine the petition submitted, and that the petition is admissible regarding alleged violations of the rights established in Articles 4, 5, 7, 8, and 25 of the Convention, pursuant to Article 1(1) of same, to the detriment of the individuals indicated in the section on characterization of the facts alleged, infra paragraphs 56-59. Furthermore, possible violations of Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture were added by the Commission by virtue of the principle of jurit novit curia. Consequently, the Commission has decided to notify the parties of the decision, publish this report on admissibility, and include it in its Annual Report. II. PROCESSING BY THE COMMISSION 5. The Commission received the initial petition on March 14, 2007, and it was registered with number 299-07. 6. On May 15, 2007, the Commission transmitted the relevant parts of the petition to the State, and in accordance with its Rules of Procedures, asked the State to submit its reply within a two-month deadline. 7. On August 2, 2007, the State submitted a message indicating that it had requested information from the respective authorities. The petitioners were apprised of that message on September 11, 2007. As of the date of approval of this report, the Venezuelan State has not provided the information indicated in its message. On February 28, 2008 a communication was received from the State, presenting its arguments regarding admissibility. The communication was forwarded to the petitioners, with the request that they submit their observations within one month. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. The Petitioners 8. By way of context, the petitioners indicated that the La Segundera housing development in Sucre municipality, Aragua State, has been classified as a highly dangerous area by the police because of the high crime rate; however the police say this to influence public opinion and justify their own illegal procedures. The petitioners specifically mentioned the habitual occurrence of arbitrary arrests, raids of homes without court orders, extrajudicial executions made to look like confrontations with the police, both physical and psychological torture, and death threats. The petitioners added that such acts are generally perpetrated against minors between 15 and 17 years of age, as well as adults between 18 and 35 years of age. 9. In the instant case, the petitioners asserted that on the morning of January 6, 2003 there was a robbery of 600,000 Bolívares in the La Segundera subdivision within Sucre municipality of Aragua State. They indicated that their neighbors saw CSOPA officers surround the Díaz Loreto family home. At 5:30pm that same day, 12 uniformed and armed CSOPA officers violently entered the residence of Robert Ignacio Díaz Loreto, age 21, David Octavio Díaz Loreto, age 23, Miguel Angel Díaz Loreto, age 2