99 statements given by high-ranking public officials and the failure of state authorities to comply with the duty of due diligence in the conduct of the investigations, constituted a failure of the State’s obligation to prevent and investigate the facts. Therefore, the State is responsible for the non-compliance with the obligation contained in Article 1(1) of the Convention to ensure the right to freely seek, receive and impart information and the right to humane treatment, enshrined in Articles 13(1) and 5(1) of the American Convention, to the detriment of Alfredo José Peña Isaya, Aloys Emmanuel Marín Díaz, Ana Karina Villalba, Ángel Mauricio Millán España, Aymara Anahí Lorenzo Ferrigni, Beatriz Alicia Adrián García, Carla María Angola Rodríguez, Carlos Arroyo, Carlos Quintero, Ramón Darío Pacheco Villegas, Edgar Hernández, Efraín Antonio Henríquez Contreras, Felipe Antonio Lugo Durán, Gabriela Margarita Perozo Cabrices, Janeth del Rosario Carrasquilla Villasmil, Jhonny Donato Ficarella Martín, John Power, Jorge Manuel Paz Paz, José Vicente Antonetti Moreno, Joshua Oscar Torres Ramos, Martha Isabel Herminia Palma Troconis, Mayela León Rodríguez, Miguel Ángel Calzadilla, Oscar José Núñez Fuentes, Richard Alexis López Valle, and Yesenia Thais Balza Bolívar. Moreover, the State is responsable for the non-compliance with the obligation contained in Article 1(1) of the Convention to ensure the right to freely seek, receive and impart information enshrined in Article 13(1) of the American Convention, to the detriment of Ademar David Dona López, Carlos José Tovar Pallen, Félix José Padilla Geromes, Jesús Rivero Bertorelli, José Gregorio Umbría Marín, Wilmer Jesús Escalona Arnal and Zullivan René Peña Hernández. IX ARTICLES 13(1) AND 13(3) (RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF THOUGHT AND EXPRESSION) 331 AND 24 (RIGHT TO EQUAL PROTECTION) IN CONJUNCTION WITH ARTICLE 1(1) OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION A) Declarations made by public officials related to the concession under which the television station Globovisión operates 363. The Commission considered that the statements made by the President of the Republic and the Ministry of Domestic Affairs and Justice, previously mentioned, specially those that referred to the reporting angle of the private media in Venezuela, the use of radio spectrum, which are property of the State by Globovisión and the intervention methods the State may use, “can serve to polarize the society and influence, through arbitrary pressure, the contents, the reporting angle, and in general, the ideas and thoughts transmitted by the media”. The Commission asserted that a harsh criticism of the reporting angle of the media, followed by the possible consequences that may result therefrom, coming from an authority with the power of decision over those consequences, upon which the possibility of continuing the operations genuinely depend, does constitute a way of indirectly restricting the right of free expression. Therefore, it requested the Court to declare the State is responsible for the violation of Article 13(1) and 13(3) of the Convention in connection with Article 1(1) therein. 364. The representatives agreed with the above arguments and further stated that since the year 2001, the President of the Republic and other state officials have been giving a series of statements "threatening the private television stations – especially, Globovisiónwith cancelling or refusing to renew the concession, as well as with reprisals against the 331 Article 24. Right to Equal Protection All people are equal before the law. Consequently, they are entitled, without discrimination, to equal protection of the law.