Minister of the Interior, Mr. Bower, visited to the premises, and he was ordered to kneel for one hour because the Minister was visiting. That day he had a 15-minute visit from his wife, and after she left, Mr. Lopez was told to collaborate with the investigation, bearing in mind his wife's pregnant state and that she was also a police officer, lest she be included in the case. 6. He claims that on May 21 he was transferred by security personnel of the Minister of the Interior and police officers to the Marine Corps facility. He claims that while he was being tortured at the Marine Corps facility, he saw Interior Minister Walter Bower, and that at one point, a deputy commissioner stepped on his head to force him to look away while he heard another person being tortured. He was reportedly told that the Minister of the Interior wanted him to implicate another policeman in the attempted coup, and in exchange his wife would be left out of the matter. 7. He says that he was not seen by medical personnel until approximately 15 days later, when the International Red Cross visited them. Later, he was visited by a judicial committee composed of a judge, a medical examiner and other people, who were unable to find any trace of the torture, due to the time that had passed. He adds that between late June and early July, he had a visit from a doctor, an actuary and prosecutors and that, after confirming that he had been tortured, he was transferred to “el cuadrilátero" as punishment and was allegedly falsely accused of the murder of a detainee through torture while he, the alleged victim, was serving as head of the Criminal Investigation Section of the Fifth Department Caaguazú, so that he would retract the complaint made. 8. Finally, he alleges unwarranted delay in the processing of the criminal case brought in response to the torture to which he was allegedly subjected, as a result of shady deals between the defendants and the judicial authorities, and that the preliminary hearing had not yet been held, despite the fact that years had passed since the case was first brought. B. The State 9. The State did not submit any comments at this merits stage but merely requested that the petition be set aside due to inactivity, despite the fact that the request for observations was reiterated on April 9, 2020. On November 13, 2020, in response to a request for information made by the IACHR, the State referred to a number of specific points consulted by the Commission. In light of the above, this section is based primarily on the arguments related to the merits of the case that were put forward by the State during the admissibility stage, as well as those raised in the response to the request for information of November 13, 2020. The Commission notes that the State also indicated that it would send additional information "as soon as access to the record is possible.” However, no such information has been received as of the date of this report. 10. The State claims that the events that befell the alleged victim originated as a consequence of "the failed coup attempt of May 18, 2000," and that after that event there were various arrests and investigations, especially in relation to police and military personnel. It says that in that context, given that Jorge Luis López Sosa was an officer in the National Police and was at the police precinct that day, he was the subject of inquiries along with other public security agents. The State affirms that, Mr. López was detained in the context of a "State of Emergency validly declared as a consequence of a coup d'état" and “of his functions.” It also says that upon being arrested he was informed that he was suspected of participating in the attempted coup d'état the night before, and that "prosecutors verified his situation in situ on the day of his arrest.” 11. The State maintains that, "according to allegations by the Public Prosecution Service (Ministerio Público), acts of torture were indeed allegedly perpetrated against several of those detainees, including the petitioner," and that since those arrests and possible acts of torture were widespread, various proceedings were instituted in order to investigate them; those proceedings were eventually joined due to the elements connecting them. 12. The State claims that in one case, three police officers were charged with "bodily injury in the exercise of public functions," and in another case, former Interior Minister Walter Bower Montalto was charged with “torture." After the prosecutorial inquiry, all of the accused were indicted for the crimes mentioned, and the cases were joined due to their connection on July 24, 2001. The State says that as a result of that decision a 2