2
d)
The adoption of the legislative and any other measures necessary to adapt
Guatemalan domestic laws to the international norms of human rights and
humanitarian law, and to make these norms fully effective in the domestic sphere.
6.
The communication of the State of Guatemala (hereinafter “the State”) of
September 13, 2006 and its annexes in which it described a series of steps taken during
the years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, and 2006 to determine the whereabouts of Efraín
Bámaca Velásquez. Specifically, it mentioned that on August 9, 2006 it “requested that
the Public Prosecutors’ Office reactivate the investigation in order to establish the
whereabouts of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez’s body and those responsible for the fact, and
thus continue with the proceedings and issue a judgment according to the law.” On the
other hand it stated that “the corresponding publications [of the Judgment] were made
in the Diario de Centroamérica on June 14, 2005 and in El Periódico on June 5, 2006.”
Finally, it indicated that “[w]ith the purpose of adapting the Guatemalan legislation to
international human rights norms, a High Level Commission was [created] in which
officials of the three State Bodies and of the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as the Ombudsman’s Office, the office of
Attorney General of the Nation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs participated.”
7.
The observations made by the representatives of the victim and his next of kin
(hereinafter “the representatives”) on October 13, 2006, in which they acknowledged
that the State complied with the publication of the Judgment in the terms stated in the
Judgment on Reparations (supra Having Seen paragraph number 2). However, regarding
the location of the remains and the investigation of the facts, they stated that “no
effective action tending to clarify the facts occurred and establish the whereabouts of the
remains of Mr. Efraín Bámaca Velásquez has been carried out [and that] the State has
not carried out an investigation leading to know, at least, what happened to the victim’s
remains.” At the same time, they pointed out that “since the year 1999 up to [...] August
9, 2006 there was no State initiative to continue with the investigation, thus continuing
the impunity of the case.” Regarding the High Level Commission allegedly appointed for
the effects of adapting the Guatemalan legislation to international norms, they expressed
that the State “did not provide any information to prove said appointment, [nor] did it
explain the specific duties of said [C]omission, the mandate granted to it, and more
specifically, it did not mention its advances.”
8.
The State’s communication of October 25, 2006, in which it informed of the
celebration of a public act of acknowledgment of international responsibility on October
16, 2006 at the “Patio de la Paz of the Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, presided by Mr.
Frank Rafael La Rue Lewy, who was appointed by the President of the Republic, Oscar
Berger Perdomo, and by the Vice-President of the Republic, Eduardo Stein Barrillas.”
Pursuant to that expressed by the State, in said “act Mrs. Jennifer Harbury, the victim’s
widow, a representative of the family, and two friends of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez were
present.”
9.
The observations made by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights
(hereinafter “the Commission” or “the Inter-American Commission”) on October 31,
2006, in which it stated that it regretted the lack of advances regarding the location of
the remains of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez; that the obligation to adopt legislative measures
of adaptation to international norms is still pending; that “it considered” the publications
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