54 performing operations; [...] accuses her of participating in an operation on ‘Mario’ whose hand had been burned, which corroborates the foregoing; namely, that she took part as assistant surgeon in a skin-grafting operation; and it is evident that the defendant has denied this during the proceeding so as to elude her criminal liability, which has been adequately proved[.] 94. The Court observes that the medical act is acknowledged in numerous normative and declarative documents relating to the medical profession.99 For example, article 12 of the Code of Ethics and Deontology of the Physician’s Professional Association states that “[the] medical act is any activity or procedure performed by a physician in the exercise of the medical profession. It includes the following: acts of diagnosis, therapeutics and prognosis carried out by a physician when providing comprehensive care to patients, and also acts deriving directly therefrom. Such medical acts may only be exercised by members of the medical profession.” 95. For information only, the Court recalls that Article 18 of the First Geneva Convention of 1949 states that: “[n]o one may ever be molested or convicted for having nursed the wounded or sick.” Also, Article 16 of Protocol I and Article 10 of Protocol II, both Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, establish that “Under no circumstances shall any person be punished for carrying out medical activities compatible with medical ethics, regardless of the person benefiting therefrom.” At the time of the facts of this case, Peru was a party to those international instruments. d) A physician’s reporting obligation concerning possible criminal acts 96. The judgment of November 21, 1996 (supra para. 73(27)), also considered “that when the physician merely presumes or knows the unlawful origin of the injuries caused to an individual, he is obliged to report the fact or advise the authorities so that they may conduct the respective investigation.” 97. In this regard, the Court considers that the information a physician obtains in the exercise of his profession is privileged by professional confidentiality. For example, the International Code of Medical Ethics of the World Medical Association establishes that “a physician must keep absolutely secret everything that has been confided in him, even after the death of the patient.” 98. In this regard, Article 2(18) of the 1993 Constitution of Peru, which has precedence over any other domestic norm in Peruvian legislation, establishes that everyone has the right: Not to make known his political, philosophical, religious or any other kind of beliefs, and also to respect professional confidentiality. 99. Moreover, Article 141 of the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes that: “the following shall not be obliged to testify: 1. members of religious orders, lawyers, physicians, notaries and midwives, with regard to the secrets confided to them in the exercise of their profession. 99 Cf. International Code of Medical Ethics, World Medical Association; Regulations in time of armed conflict, World Medical Association; European Principles of Medical Ethics; Code of Ethics and Deontology of the Peruvian Physicians’ Professional Association (file on merits, reparations, and costs, tome IV, folios 846 to 857); and Law, Statute and Rules of Procedure of the Peruvian Physicians’ Professional Association (file on merits, reparations, and costs, tome IV, folios 858 to 941)