63 to the Supreme Court of Justice for it to rule on the appeal.78 On February 1, 1996 the Fourth Chamber of the Court of Appeals overturned the December 11, 1995 ruling and ordered the judge hearing the case to forward the case record to the Supreme Court of Justice for the respective Chamber to “hear the query on competence.”79 On March 18, 1996 the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice decided to return the case record to the Military Court of First Instance of Guatemala because “this Court cannot hear a query on competence that does not exist because it was not raised before the respective Judge;”80 134.30. on June 6, 1996, the Public Prosecutor requested a “writ of indictment” against the accused, arguing that the motivation for the murder was political, derived from the work carried out by Myrna Mack Chang as a social anthropologist; that the issue of displaced population was politically sensitive for the Government, including the Army, insofar as Myrna Mack Chang’s research affected the military strategy of counterinsurgency and restricted the freedom with which military operations were carried out with respect to these population groups; that Myrna Mack Chang was known to the Army and due to her work she had been identified as a person close to the insurgency; that the public appearance of the communities of resisting population was attributed to the Bishop of Quiché and to Myrna Mack Chang, and this was closely linked to her murder; that the execution of Myrna Mack Chang was carried out by the Presidential General Staff and that the order to murder her was issued by the accused;81 134.31. on June 11, 1996, Helen Mack Chang asked the Military Judge to issue a “writ of indictment” against Edgar Augusto Godoy Gaitán, Juan Valencia Osorio and Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera and a “preventive commitment order” against these same persons, arguing that there were sufficient reasons to believe that the defendants participated as accessories in the murder of Myrna Mack Chang;82 134.32. it was only then, on June 11, 1996, that the Military Court issued a “writ of indictment as possible accessories of the murder of Myrna Elizabeth Mack Chang” against the three accused persons.83 The Judge did not order detention of the 78 Cf. appeal before the Military Court of First Instance of the Department of Guatemala of December 18, 1995 (file with annexes to the brief by the State of September 26, 2001, leaves 4106 to 4114). 79 Cf. Order of the Fourth Chamber of the Court of Appeals of February 8, 1996 (file with annexes to the application, annex 22, leaves 573 to 574). 80 Cf. Order of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of March 18, 1996 annexes to the application, annex 23, leaves 576 to 579). (file with 81 Cf. request by the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed before the Military Court of First Instance on June 6, 1996, requesting the writ of indictment of the members of the Estado Mayor Presidencial or Presidential General Staff, Edgar Augusto Godoy Gaitán, Juan Valencia Osorio, and Juan Guillermo Oliva Carrera (file with annexes to the application, annex 24, leaves 582 to 607). 82 Cf. request by the private accuser filed before the Military Court of First Instance on June 11, 1996 (file with annexes to the application, annex 25, leaves 609 to 628). 83 Cf. writ of indictment by the Military Court of First Instance of June 11, 1996 (file with annexes to the application, annex 26, leaves 629 to 632 and file with annexes to the brief answering the application and raising preliminary objections, leaves 5274 to 5275).