threats that he received. In addition, two witnesses now refuse to ratify their previous statements to police investigators which were included in the September 29 report. The statements of these two witnesses indicated that the witnesses had observed the surveillance under which Myrna Mack was placed before her murder and had noted that the men who engaged in the surveillance appeared to be from the military and had recognized one of them specifically as an employee of the EMP. One of the two witnesses has specifically requested that he not be involved in the case "for reasons of his security." 13. It is also no longer possible to obtain statements from the only two eyewitnesses to the murder itself, José Tejeda Enríquez and Juan Carlos Marroquín Tejeda. A few days before these two witnesses were to appear before the court to provide testimony, they received anonymous letters in which they were threatened with death. During the same time period, the house of Mr. Marroquín was machine-gunned by a group of armed men. These incidents forced the witnesses to leave the country. B. The Domestic Criminal Proceedings 14. The Public Ministry is the prosecuting agent in the original criminal proceeding which was initiated to investigate the death of Myrna Mack. Helen Mack, sister of the victim, intervened as private accuser. The criminal proceeding was carried out against Noél de Jesús Beteta Alvarez, suspected material author of the murder. The criminal proceeding against Beteta lasted for four years. The case was seen by a total of twelve judges. 15. The private accuser, Helen Mack, attempted to prove in the criminal proceeding the participation in the crime as intellectual authors of Edgar Augusto Godoy Gaitán, Juan Valencia Osorio y Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera, Beteta's superiors at the EMP. Helen Mack also accused Juan José Larios, Juan José del Cid Morales and another individual with the last name Charchal as the persons who assisted Beteta in the surveillance of Myrna Mack and in the actual execution of the murder. All of these employees of the EMP were included in the police report of September 29 as suspected material and intellectual authors of the murder. Helen Mack sought to include these persons as defendants in the criminal proceeding. 16. The Public Ministry and the private accuser, with the intention of proving that the abovenamed persons were guilty of having participated in the murder, requested through the court with jurisdiction over the case specific information and documentation from State agencies such as the Ministry of Defense and the EMP. The information which was requested was related to the identity and activities of the suspected material and intellectual authors and to other questions surrounding the murder. Each of these requests was rejected on the grounds that the information was confidential and included State secrets. 17. The decision in the criminal proceeding carried out against Beteta was issued on February 12, 1993 by the Third Court of First Instance for Decision in Criminal Matters. The Court of First Instance convicted only Noél de Jesús Beteta Alvarez. The other suspected material and intellectual authors of the murder were neither processed nor convicted by the court because of insufficient evidence. The decision of the court convicted Beteta as guilty of having committed the crime of murder against Myrna Mack and ordered an incommutable sentence of 25 years in prison. The decision also rejected the petition to open a proceeding against Edgar Augusto Godoy Gaitán, Juan Valencia Osorio, Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera, Juan José Larios, Juan José del Cid Morales and the individual of last name Charchal. The evidentiary basis for the decision of the Court of First Instance was the investigation carried out by the police and included in the report dated November 4, 1990. That report did not mention any employee of the EMP or other military official, other than Beteta, as a possible participant in the crime which resulted in Myrna Mack's death. 18. The private accuser filed an appeal against the sentence of the Third Court of First Instance, petitioning for the opening of a criminal proceeding against the other material and intellectual authors of the crime. By resolution of April 28, 1993, the Fourth Chamber of the Court of Appeals affirmed in its totality the conviction which had been appealed. On May 4 and May 21, 1993 3