Office of the Attorney General, but when he was summoned several times afterwards, between
October 2003 and March 2004, 7 months after his first deposition, he did not appear.
According to the petitioners, the State was extremely negligent in identifying and finding this
prime suspect, since in September 2004 the Office of the Attorney General was informed by
the Confederación Deportiva Autónoma de Guatemala [Autonomous Sporting Confederation of
Guatemala] that Mr. Osbel Airosa had never worked there and it was not until February 2005
that the Criminal Investigation Service was ordered to fully identify and find Mr. Osbel Airosa
Hernández.
15. The petitioners also allege that the investigation of the case was unreasonably delayed due
to a conflict of jurisdiction. On March 11, 2002, they assert, the Juez Octavo de Primera
Instancia Penal del Departamento de Guatemala [Eighth Criminal Judge of the First Instance of
the Province of Guatemala] disqualified himself from hearing the case since the alleged
homicide had occurred in the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Mixco, which corresponds to the
Agencia Fiscal No. 5 [Office of the Assistant District Attorney No. 5]. Therefore, on May 24,
2002, the case was transferred from the Office of the Assistant District Attorney No. 32 to
Office No. 5. The Juzgado Primero de Primera Instancia Penal de Mixco[First Criminal Court of
the First Instance of Mixco], in turn, disqualified itself from hearing the case on the
presumption that the crime had occurred in the place where the victim disappeared, and sent
the case back to Office No. 32, to be heard within the jurisdiction of the Eighth Criminal Judge
of the First Instance. The latter court submitted the conflict of jurisdiction on September 25,
2002. The case was decided by the Supreme Court, which declared the First Criminal Court of
the First Instance of Mixco to be the court with jurisdiction. Consequently, the case was
referred to the jurisdiction of Mixco on December 11, 2002.
16. According to the petitioners, due to delays in the investigation, it was not until December
15, 2002 that a visual inspection of the crime scene was carried out, almost a year after the
death of María Isabel Véliz Franco. They state that by the time the inspection was made, the
crime scene had changed and the vacant lot had even been burned. It was not until July 8,
2003 that there was a search of the property where the vehicle that, according to the
anonymous informant, allegedly had been used to move the body of the alleged victim was
supposed to be found. Moreover, the petitioners report that said search was made in the
wrong place, since the address given by the anonymous informant was 6ta Calle 5-24 Colonia
Monserrat en la zona 7 [6th Street 5-24 Montserrat Development in Zone 7] and the search
was carried out at 6 calle 5-24 de la zona 3 [6th Street 5-24 of Zone 3] of Guatemala City.
Consequently, the results of the search were negative.
17. According to the information provided by the petitioners, the most recent proceeding
carried out to identify possible suspects responsible for the death of María Isabel Véliz Franco
was in February 2005, when the Criminal Investigation Service was ordered to fully identify
and find Mr. Osbel Airosa. Since then, the case, allegedly, has been laid aside. Thus, they
contend, more than four years have passed since the murder of the alleged victim and the
case has not gone beyond the investigation phase, with no signs that in the near future it will
be possible to identify the perpetrators and/or abettors of the aforementioned murder.
18. According to the petitioners, the negligence of state authorities has been such that on
November 2, 2004, the Procurador de Derechos Humanos [Human Rights Defender] issued a
resolution concluding that the Office of the Attorney General did not act in accordance with the
principle of objectivity in the exercise of criminal prosecution, nor did it act within the
deadlines established by law, “which proves the inability of the State to guarantee life, liberty,
justice, security, peace and the full development of the individual, for the inhabitants of the
Republic of Guatemala (…). 4In addition, it denounces the participating prosecutors for delaying
justice by not resolving the problem of territorial jurisdiction. The Human Rights Defender
declared the existence of violations of the human rights to security and due process of Ms.
Rosa Elvira Franco Sandoval de Véliz, since there is reasonable cause related to the
responsibility of the State of Guatemala for these violations.
4
Report of the Human Rights Defender dated November 2, 2004, Ref. Exp. Ord. Gua. 41-2003/DI.
4