framework of this proceeding Winston Joffre Aroca Melgar filed an appeal (308-2001), which was decided on November 15, 2002, by the First Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Guayaquil, which confirmed the involvement of the accused as accessories. They add that the case was remanded, by lot, for trial to the Third Criminal Court of Guayas, which would be still pending. 10. As to the investigation in the police jurisdiction, the petitioners indicate that on March 14, 2001, Winston Joffre Aroca Melgar, the father of the alleged victim, filed a private indictment against National Police Second Lieutenant Carlos Eduardo Rivera Enríquez and National Police Officer Edison Patricio Yépez Espín for the murder of Joffre Antonio Aroca Palma. They also say that on March 19, 2001, Winston Joffre Aroca Melgar filed another private indictment against Carlos Eduardo Rivera Enríquez, Edison Patricio Yépez Espín, José Francisco Bone Franco and Willer Keller Lara Valencia in connection with the same events. The petitioners say that on March 30, 2001, the examining judge admitted the private charge against the two national policemen for processing but ruled that the police courts were not the appropriate venue for Metropolitan Police Officer José Francisco Bone Franco and driver Willer Keller Lara Valencia. 11. The petitioners note that, at the same time, on April 11, 2001, a Disciplinary Tribunal punished Edison Patricio Yépez Espín by discharging him from the National Police under Article 31(1) of the National Police Disciplinary Regulations in force at the time of the events. They say that Edison Patricio Yépez Espín was subsequently placed at liberty with the argument that there were insufficient grounds to hold him in pre-trial detention. They say that on September 18, 2001, the prosecutor presented an indictment against Carlos Eduardo Rivera Enríquez and Edison Patricio Yépez Espín as perpetrator and accessory, respectively, in the murder of Joffre Antonio Aroca Melgar. 12. The petitioners hold that on October 29, 2001, the Second Court of the Fourth National Police District issued a reasoned order and summoned for full trial to Carlos Eduardo Rivera Enríquez “as the perpetrator of the crime of aggravated homicide or murder as classified at Article 228(7) of the Police Criminal Code” and Edison Patricio Yépez Espín “as accessory to the crime of aggravated homicide or murder as classified at Article 226(72) of the National Police Criminal Code.” They also say that the Judge of the Second Court decided to keep in effect the detention order against Carlos Eduardo Rivera Enríquez and not to order the detention of Edison Patricio Yépez Espín on the grounds that he was an accessory.4 13. The petitioners mention that Carlos Eduardo Rivera Enríquez and Edison Patricio Yépez Espín filed an appeal against the writ of indictment. They say that on November 27, 2001, the Second District Court of Police Justice ruled on the appeal, confirming the indictment and amended the alleged involvement of the accused from perpetrator and accessory to perpetrator and accomplice to the crime of aggravated homicide as defined at Article 228(7) of the National Police Criminal Code. in force at the time of the facts that comprise the subject matter in the instant case, an accessory after the fact is not subject to pre-trial detention, and it cannot be imposed on them in the indictment proceeding. The ruling also states that according to Article 253 of said Code, pre-trial detention does not exist for accessories after the fact. Supreme Court ruling No. 30-10-85 published in Official Register 318 of November 20, 1985. 4 The interlocutory order of the Second Court of the Fourth National Police District, Criminal Case No. 0112001, October 29, 2001, provided that detention was not ordered because he was an accessory in accordance with Article 91 of the Police Code of Criminal Procedure, in keeping with the definition of pretrial detention of the Supreme Court of Justice published in Official Register No. 245 of July 30, 1999. Annex to the original petition received by the IACHR on June 20, 2002. 3