60. On March 14, 2003, Ingrid Alexandra Izurieta Piedrahita, 16 years of age, appeared before the Office of the Criminal Prosecutor of Guayas and gave the following statement: I met Paola Guzmán Albarracín and she told me when we were in third year he called her my sweetheart and I didn't say anything. Paola was there when he said this. When vice principal Bolívar Espín Zurita then pulled her to his desk and kissed her and took Paola's hand to touch his parts, that is, his genitals. One time we were both in the office, I went in to get a drink of water, then she went up to him and kissed him on the mouth and he returned the kiss and when I looked they tried to hide it. At that time, I had just cut my hair and he told me why did you cut your hair and he told me he liked it more when it was long. Then he asked me if we could meet on the patio. Several classmates said that the vice principal had asked them to meet outside the school but he had not shown up […] teacher Gladys Gatay asked me once why I hadn't entered the principal's office to tell the principal about the things that have happened, so I've decided with my parents to leave that school. People say at the school that the vice principal molests several girls.49 61. Preliminary report S/N-PJG, prepared by the investigator from the National Office of the National Police and dated March 16, 2003, concluded that Paolo "poisoned herself to take her own life" and passed away on December 13, 2002. It states that the motives were unknown and that Vice Principal Bolívar Espín "had been in a romantic relationship" with Paola.50 62. On June 12, 2003, the Public Prosecutor filed formal charges against Bolívar Espín Zurita for the crime of sexual harassment. Among other evidence, the Prosecutor mentions an anonymous survey conducted by the Provincial Office of Education of Guayas, in which the majority of those surveyed answered in the affirmative to the question "do you think the Vice Principal had something to do with what happened?" It also made reference to the three letters written by Paola, two addressed to Bolívar Espín expressing “how much I love you” and the other written to her mother.51 63. Among the other elements on which the charges were based, the Criminal Prosecutor describes the following: 1) the statements of Ingrid Alexandra Izurieta Piedrahita, Jennifer Estefanía Morante López, and Eloiza Vanessa Troncoso Regato; 2) the statement of Blanca Azucena Cuenca, which, among other things, states that she is a teacher at the Dr. Martínez Serrano School,[…] That once the inspector general told her that a student was in love with the Vice Principal, and that her own inquiries revealed that the student was Miss Guzmán, that she caught her attention because she talked a lot with Doctor Ortega, the school doctor, that she called the student’s mother and talked with her about the matter, and that she said her daughter was a bad girl, she has also informed the school principal of the situation, he stated that he knew about it and that it was nothing, that once a student named Jessica Ruiz passed him a note written by one of her classmates, surname Hidalgo, who went to the principal's office with the deponent, and, in front of the principal and vice principal, the student had accused the school Vice Principal Bolívar Espín of having wanted to grope her in order for her to pass social studies;”52 and 3) the statement of Ángela Silveria Navarro Manzo, “who, among other things, stated that she is the mother of Mayra Hidalgo, a former students at the Martínez Serrano School, that she had been molested by the Vice Principal at the school, which is why she sought the help of Miss Blanca Cuenca through a friend to whom she gave a note stating that the Vice Principal molested her daughter Mayra Hidalgo, who had to quit school.”53 64. On August 22, 2003, the Public Prosecutor asked the Twentieth Criminal Judge of Guayas to order Bolívar Espín Zurita be placed in pretrial detention.54The request was denied.55 On October 6, 2003, the Attachment 29. Testimony of Alexandra Izurieta Piedrahita. Attachment to initial petition. Attachment 30. Preliminary report S/N-PJG of the National Office of the National Police. Attached to initial petition. 51 Attachment 31. Formal charges of the Criminal Prosecutor of Guayas against Bolívar Eduardo Espín Zurita. Attached to initial petition. 52 Attachment 32. Statement of Blanca Cuenca de Schneider. Attached to the communication of the petitioner, October 14, 2014. 53 Attachment 31. Formal charges of the Criminal Prosecutor of Guayas against Bolívar Eduardo Espín Zurita. Attached to initial petition. 54 Attachment 33. Official Letter No. 1034-MFD-G August 22, 2003. Attached to Note from the State No. 4-2-248/07 of November 27, 2007. 55 Attachment 33. Official Letter No. 1034-MFD-G August 22, 2003. Attached to Note from the State No. 4-2-248/07 of November 27, 2007. 49 50