Colombian Army. Furthermore, most of those who have been given prison sentences have not been detained.12 13. It should be recalled that, in its Order of July 2009, the Court noted that “of the eight individuals regarding whom the State ha[d] provided information [to date …], six had already been implicated in the facts of the case at the date on which this [Judgment] was delivered by the Court.”13 Consequently, the Court considered, inter alia, that “even though more than 11 and 12 years have passed since the massacres of La Granja and El Aro, respectively, the violations declared in the case remain in almost the same situation of impunity as at the time the Judgment was delivered, three years ago.”14 In addition, the Court observed that the murder of Francisco Enrique Villalba Hernández, a paramilitary who had acknowledged his participation in the case and who was serving his sentence under house arrest ruled out the possibility that he would provide further information on other perpetrators who took part in the Ituango massacres, thus eliminating a possible source of evidence for the pending criminal proceedings. In this regard, the Court reiterates that the State must take the necessary measures to protect the other witnesses, agents of justice, victims and their family members who require this in order to ensure that the investigations in this case are not obstructed. 14. In addition, the Court observes that, from July 2009 to date, two former members of the paramilitary forces have been convicted with regard to some of the facts that they were accused of (aggravated murder, terrorism, arson and theft) and another two have entered plea bargains. In addition, other individuals have been implicated in the investigation, including, according to the State, senior officials of the Army and the National Police, and an investigation has been re-opened against the former police commander of Ituango (and the same possibility is being contemplated with regard to another member of the security forces). 15. Meanwhile, the Court appreciates the measures taken by the State through the Prosecutor General’s Office to expedite the investigative procedures in this case; in particular the concentration of the investigations in a single office; the mechanisms to crosscheck information within the Prosecution; the exclusive appointment to these cases of several investigators and analysts, and the measures to monitor the investigations. 16. Nevertheless, the reasons why the investigations have been hindered has not been clearly explained, and there is no clear information about the plan to be followed to investigate the participation of State agents in the facts, to question the extradited paramilitary leaders, and to search for probative elements that have not yet been explored regarding the existence of complex criminal structures of a paramilitary or other type, and the interrelationships that made the violations declared in this case possible. The State must provide this information, as well as any pertinent information about the mechanisms to improve the lines of investigation, and a systematization of the actual situation and the                                                              12 Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres, paras. 125.94, 303 to 307, 310 to 312, 321, 323 and 325. Specifically, on July 8, 2005, the First Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit of Antioquia sentenced Orlando de Jesús Mazo, civilian, to 12 years’ imprisonment for the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime, terrorism and extortion; Gilberto Antonio Tamayo Rengifo, civilian, to 12 years’ imprisonment for the crimes of terrorism and extortion; Carlos Antonio Carvajal Jaramillo, civilian, to 72 months’ imprisonment for the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime and extortion, and Jorge Alexander Sánchez Castro, Army Captain, to 31 years’ imprisonment for aggravated murder and conspiracy to commit a crime. 13 Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 7, 2009, sixteenth considering paragraph. 14 Case of the Ituango Massacres v. Colombia. Order of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of July 7, 2009, sixteenth considering paragraph. 7