19 disappearance of Ernest Rafael Castillo-Páez as having been produced when he was arrested by members of the National Police. b. The Commission alleged that the actions of the State's agents prevented effective recourse. It further stated that although the State is obliged to guarantee that the competent authorities will comply with all the court rulings and decisions, habeas corpus, the appropriate remedy in this case, "proved ineffective to determine [the victim's] whereabouts and secure his release." According to the Commission, "the Supreme Court of Justice did not have jurisdiction to take cognizance, in the third instance, of a habeas corpus proceeding, given that such action is prohibited under Article 21 of Law 23506." According to that article, "the party that is the cause of the alleged violation of a right may not file a petition seeking nullification." It further claimed that "the police refused to cooperate in the enquiry into the disappearance, and supplied the magistrate with adulterated logs, which was clearly an obstruction of justice." c. During the public hearing held on February 6 and 7, 1996, the State, in its cross-examination of Judge Minaya-Calle, stressed that to take statements from witnesses anonymously was an anomaly prohibited under Criminal Trial Law. In response to the questions from the Agent of the State, the magistrate said that she had visited the scene, not to take statements, but only to draw up a report; she confirmed that she did identify the witnesses, but that for security reasons she had not named them in her report, but this did not constitute an anomaly. Habeas corpus had not been effective and that, both in her own court experience in which she had dealt with many petitions of habeas corpus, and from her knowledge of others, none had borne results in cases of forced disappearance of persons. The State also pointed out that there was no evidence against the Minister of the Interior and the other persons named in the writ of habeas corpus, to which the magistrate replied that, in hierarchical institutions, responsibility lies with the highest ranking official. d. With regard to the violation of the aforementioned Article 25 of the Convention, Peru, in its answer to the application denied that there had been any obstruction of the investigation or any irregularities in the trial. It listed in detail the actions taken in the judicial investigations up to the date of the presentation of its brief of final arguments, and repeated that domestic remedies had not been exhausted. It further indicated the actions taken by the competent authorities to determine and locate the whereabouts of Mr. Castillo-Páez. 81. The Court considers that the remedy filed by Mr. Castillo-Páez' next-of-kin against his detention (habeas corpus) was obstructed by State agents through the adulteration of the logs of entry of detainees, which made it impossible to locate the victim (supra, paras. 30.d and 58); that although the appeal of habeas corpus was favorably disposed of in two instances, the Supreme Court of Justice nullified the ruling in its judgment of February 7, 1991. 82. Consequently, it has been proven that the remedy of habeas corpus was ineffective for securing the release of Ernesto Rafael Castillo-Páez and, perhaps, for saving his life. The fact that the ineffectiveness of habeas corpus was due to forced disappearance does not exclude the violation of Article 25 of the American Convention. This provision on the right to effective recourse to a competent national court or tribunal is one of the fundamental pillars not only of the American Convention, but of the very rule of law in a democratic society in the terms of the Convention.