6. On April 20, 2001, the State sent the Commission its observations on the petition and on the request for precautionary measures, and these were duly transmitted to the Petitioner. On May 25, 2001, the Petitioner sent to the Commission her response to the State’s observations. On June 15, 2001, the Petitioner sent the Commission a copy of the decision of May 2, 2001, of the La Ceiba Court of Appeals, declaring null and void the decision to take the case to plenary, and ordering that procedural irregularities be remedied and that a new judgment be issued. On that same date, the Commission requested additional information from the State and from the Petitioner. On August 9 and 10, 2001, the Petitioner and the State, respectively, sent the Commission their responses to these requests, with the relevant information. 7. On August 23, the Petitioner submitted additional information, which was sent to the State on August 24, 2001. On November 20, the State submitted additional information which was transmitted to the Petitioner. 8. During its 113º regular session, the Commission intended to hold a hearing, but this was suspended at the request of the Petitioner, for reasons of force majeure. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. The Petitioner 9. In the complaint, the Petitioner declares that the OFRANEH was created in 1978 to defend the individual and collective rights of the Garífuna people, rights that for decades had been usurped. Beginning in 1992, the tourist business Marbella and other foreign investors, with the complicity of the civilian and military authorities, had usurped the property rights of the Garífuna community of “Triunfo de la Cruz”, located in the municipality of Tela. Faced with the loss of their lands, community and national organizations launched a series of complaints, and were successful in having some of the usurping acts of the tourist promoters suspended. During this struggle, according to the Petitioner, Mr. Alfredo López Alvarez distinguished himself as an outstanding defender of the rights of the Garífuna people. The Petitioner maintains that, because Mr. Alfredo López Alvarez acted as secretary of OFRANEH and president of the Committee for the Defense of Tribunal Lands (CODET), he was arrested on April 27, 1997, in the city of Tela, together with Messrs. Luis Angel Acosta Vargas and Zuni Loreto Cubas, and accused of possessing and trafficking in narcotics. The Petitioner claims that the victim is innocent of the crime of which he is accused, and that the accusation for which he was arrested is a fabrication concocted by persons with an interest in the Garífuna lands, together with government agents, in order to frighten and inhibit the Garífuna people from defending their territories. 10. The Petitioner maintains that during the criminal trial of the victim there were serious irregularities, that he was not offered elementary judicial guarantees, and that due process and the right to a fair trial have been violated. She adds that the victim was convicted on November 7, 2000, in the court of first instance, without any evidence to demonstrate his guilt, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of one millionlempiras.1 11. The serious irregularities during the criminal trial are clear to see, according to the Petitioner, in the negative outcome of the second analysis of the drug sample that was supposedly seized from the accused. This analysis was conducted on May 4, 1998, 2 by the Toxicological Chemical Laboratory, and was in fact ordered by the court hearing the case. Although the result was negative,3 the court did not terminate proceedings. As additional information, the Petitioner submitted a resolution of the Court of Appeals of La Ceiba, dated May 2, 2001,4 relating to an appeal brought against the initial conviction. In that resolution, the court noted that a number of irregularities had been committed during the procedures, and 1 Mr. Acosta Vargas received the same sentence. Mr. Zuni Loreto Cubas died on June 25, 1999, while he was being held under preventive detention 2 Page 128 of the file examined at proceedings before the Sectional Court of Tela, beginning on April 28, 2997, against Messrs. Luis Angel Acosta Vargas, Zuni Loreto Cubas and Alfredo López Alvarez. 3 Results of the preliminary analysis issued on May 14, 1997, tested positive 4 Document attached by the Petitioner, received on June 15, 2001. 2