4 the "Pepsi" kiosk, was the scene of the kidnapping of the first four victims and the murder of the fifth. The five young men were friends, lived on the streets of Guatemala City and were known to many people in the area. According to the InterAmerican Commission, during the period at which the "Las Casetas" events occurred, it was recognized as an area with a high delinquency and crime rate. f. Ms. Julia Griselda Ramírez, who worked at kiosk Nº 29 in "Las Casetas" (the "Pepsi" kiosk), at the time the kidnapping occurred and was there on June 15, 1990, stated that Ms. Rosa Trinidad Morales-Pérez, who was also working at the kiosk that day, hated the street boys and had made death threats to some of them. While they were eating, Ms. Morales-Pérez left the kiosk and moments later the pickup truck arrived with the armed men. Ms. Ramírez also said that she heard Ms. Morales-Pérez say that Anstraum, the fifth victim, "would be killed just as were his friends." g. Ms. Ramírez furnished a detailed physical description of the men, who, she said, seemed to be members of the Fifth National Police Corps. She particularly identified ex-officer Samuel Váldez-Zúñiga and officer Nestor Fonseca-López. Another witness, Gustavo Adolfo Cisneros-Cóncaba ("Toby"), another street child who was with Anstraum on the night of the murder, described the two men in similar terms. h. In their report of March 25, 1991, the police investigators indicated police officer Néstor Fonseca-López and former police officer Samuel Váldez-Zúñiga as being allegedly implicated in the kidnapping, torture and murder of the aforementioned young men, and Rosa Trinidad Morales-Pérez as an accomplice to the commission of those acts. i. On April 17, 1991, the investigation proceedings concerning the crimes committed against the five young men were joined and submitted to the jurisdiction of the Second District Court's Penal Branch of Guatemala City, which brought homicide charges against the two police officers and one civilian. In its ruling of December 26, 1991, the District Court of Guatemala City threw out important testimony regarding the identity of the accused in the case. The judgment declared that the accused had denied any involvement in the crimes, that the type of weapon issued to those officers had never been ascertained and that some witnesses could not identify the accused at the identity parade. As a result, the District Court "acquitted the accused on the ground of insufficient evidence to prove that they had been involved" in the events. On March 25, 1992, the Fourth Chamber of the Appeals Court upheld the judgment of the trial court. On May 5, 1992, the General Attorney's Office filed an appeal on points of law against the previous order, and on July 21, 1993, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the District Court. j. The Commission alleges that the crimes committed against the five victims "constitute an example of the serious violations of human rights of which Guatemalan street children were victims during the period covered in the petition relating to this case." It added that although six years have elapsed since the murder of those young men, the State has not "made any serious effort to take action in regard to such crimes." III 14. The Court is competent to hear the preliminary objections submitted by the State. Guatemala has been a State Party to the American Convention since May 25, 1978, and