B.1. Obligation to investigate the facts, issue judgment, and, where appropriate, punish those responsible 174. The Commission asked the Court to order the State to investigate the human rights violations declared in its Merits Report impartially, effectively, and within a reasonable time, in order to clarify the facts completely and identify those responsible, and if necessary, impose the corresponding sanctions. 175. The representative asked the Court to order the State to conduct a full, serious, impartial, and effective investigation within a reasonable time into the forced disappearance of Mr. Flores Bedregal. In particular, it requested that legal audits be made in order to fully clarify the facts, identify all those responsible and impose the corresponding sanctions. One of these audits would be on the ordinary criminal process "Public Prosecutor v/ Franz Pizarro Solano et al." In addition, it requested that the obstacles of fact and law that have contributed to impunity in this case be removed, as well as that the victims or their families be given full access and capacity to act at all stages of the investigation and prosecution of those responsible. 176. The State argued that criminal proceedings No. 6441/09 aim to establish the location of the remains of Mr. Flores Bedregal, in his capacity as a victim of murder in the dictatorship of Luis García Meza, which was still underway at the time. In relation to the request for a legal audit of the "Public Prosecutor v/ Franz Pizarro Solano et al." process, it alleged that these procedures should have been initiated through complaints in order to constitute disciplinary proceedings, in accordance with the Regulations on Disciplinary Proceedings of the Judiciary, so that the deadlines established for the running of the statute of limitations for such action must be taken into account. 177. As established supra, in the process "Public Prosecutor v/ Franz Pizarro Solano et al.," no lines of investigation were followed to clarify the forced disappearance of Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal. The Court notes, however, that as of 2009, pursuant to the judgment of this Court in the case Ticona Estrada et al. v. Bolivia on forced disappearance, criminal proceedings were initiated by the Public Prosecutor's Office at the request of the victims of the dictatorship of Luis García Meza Tejada against the perpetrators (No. 6441/09), which is being processed before the Eighth Magistrate's Court on Precautionary Criminal Matters. Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal was included in this process; however, this Court does not know his current status (supra para. 90). 178. Taking into account the opening of criminal proceedings for the investigation of disappeared persons from the dictatorship of Luis García Meza Tejada and the case law of the Court, 223 this Court provides that the State must continue or promote and/or reopen, direct, and conclude criminal investigations in a diligent and effective manner in order to fully clarify the facts. In view of the foregoing, the Court rules that the State must, within a reasonable time, promote and continue the investigations necessary to determine the circumstances of what occurred to Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal and, where appropriate, judge and eventually punish all persons responsible for his forced disappearance. In consideration of the seriousness of the facts, it cannot apply laws of amnesty nor make arguments regarding the statute of limitations, nor rely on arguments such as State secrecy or confidentiality of information, which are in fact a pretext to hinder the investigation. 223 Cf. Case of Velásquez Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra, para. 174, and Case of the Los Josefinos Village Massacre v. Guatemala, supra, para. 143. 52