III. A. POSITION OF THE PARTIES Position of the petitioner 9. The petitioner, who was a judicial officer at the time of the facts of the case, states that on November 13, 1993 he was on his way to a judicial proceeding together with another official and the Justice of the Peace of Villa Apaneca, the owner of the vehicle in which they were traveling. At some point on the way, on the road between Ahuachapán and Sonsonate, a grenade suddenly exploded inside the vehicle. According to the petitioner, at that point the driver got out of the vehicle with a caliber 12 shotgun in his hands, shouting that they had been attacked, while the other passenger with them ran off to tell the police what had happened. 10. The petitioner states that at that moment none of those accompanying him had helped him, even though it was he who had received the blast from the detonation. He was helped only by third parties who happened to be present at the place where it happened. They took him to the “Francisco Menéndez” Hospital in Ahuachapán. From there, he was transferred to the Social Security Hospital in Santa Ana. The petitioner reports that, as a result of the explosion, they amputated his right leg above the knee; he lost all hearing definitively in his right ear; and suffered multiple injuries to other parts of his body. 11. The petitioner claims that, according to expert reports by the Civilian National Police (hereinafter "PNC"), the explosion occurred inside the vehicle. However, according to the petitioner, the driver had invented the story that the grenade had been thrown from outside the vehicle and exploded when it landed inside it. Accordingly, the petitioner alleges that the auxiliary organs of the justice system, such as the Civilian National Police, conducted a deficient investigation into what had happened, in that they had not protected the scene of the crime, had not properly secured the evidence, and had not practiced due diligence in performing scientific tests to determine whether the explosive device had been inside the vehicle or thrown into it from outside. He also alleges corruption on the part of two forensic scientists involved in the case and unwarranted delay in the whole proceedings thereafter. 12. He points out that the criminal proceedings began on November 14, 1993, when the Justice of the Peace of Villa Concepción de Ataco conducted the initial inquiries, and that they were then referred to the Criminal Court of Ahuachapán on November 15, 1993. On November 13, 1996, the Criminal Court Judge in Ahuachapán recused himself, because the alleged victim was working as an officer in that Court. The petitioner states that on April 20, 1998, the investigation was transferred to the Court of First Instance (Juzgado de Instrucción) in Ahuachapán, which handled the proceedings for the next several years. The petitioner complains that during the ensuing years the judges in charge of the investigations changed several times, in some cases recusing themselves from hearing the case; and that in the course of the proceedings there were several irregularities, including failure to move the case forward. He further alleges that some magistrates and higher court judges exerted pressure on the various judges in charge of the investigations with a view to protecting the accused, given that he was the Justice of the Peace in Villa Apaneca. 13. Later on, the proceedings were referred to the Court of the Third Western Section (Cámara de la Tercera Sección de Occidente), which appointed the Second Justice of the Peace of Ahuachapán as substitute judge; however, he recused himself too. On June 18, 2002, this controversy then shifted to the Supreme Court of Justice, which, after 10 months, appointed the Judge of the First Instance Court in Atiquizaya to continue hearing the case. 14. Mr. Aguirre Magaña states that on May 19, 2004, the Judge of the First Instance Court in Atiquizaya resolved to provisionally dismiss all charges against the only accused in the case, a decision that the petitioner attributes to an allegedly malfunctioning justice system. 15. The petitioner points out that the prosecutor responsible for the investigation appealed the provisional dismissal of charges decision before the Court of the Third Western Section, which upheld the appealed decision in a judgment handed down on July 20, 2004. Mr. Aguirre Magaña indicates that that Court confirmed the provisional dismissal because it considered that there were not enough grounds to establish the responsibility of the alleged owner of the grenade, due to the fact that a proper investigation had not been 2