38 evaluated several cartridge cases and bullets related to the facts and, the same year, delivered the originals of the report to Alfonso Reyes Calderón, Second Vice Minister of the Interior of Guatemala.30 However, this report was not presented to the court until 1996. 76(31) On February 8, 1995, the prosecutor from the Attorney General’s office, Abraham Méndez García, reported a series of irregularities to the United Nations Verification Mission. These included, in particular, the disappearance of a bullet head found inside the vehicle in which Jorge Carpio Nicolle was traveling, the disappearance of the autopsy photographs of the bodies of the victims, and the disappearance of the evidence transported by the National Police spokesman.31 76(32) On February 25, 1997, following a judicial inspection in the Identification Unit of the National Police, it was found that the bullet heads used in the attack were not there. There was merely an official communication recording that they had been forwarded to the Fifth Criminal Court of First Instance, which was hearing the case. However, this court had no information on the whereabouts of this evidence. The cartridges and bullets extracted from the bodies of the victims had also disappeared. 76(33) On November 12, 1997, the person in charge of the Ballistics Laboratory of the Identification Unit of the National Police addressed an official communication to the First Judge of First Instance for Criminal Affairs, responding to the latter’s request of September 24, 1997, that he carry out an expert evaluation of the weapon confiscated from Mr. Acabal Patzán and of additional evidence related to the facts. In this regard, he informed that an exhaustive search had been made, and it had been concluded that this evidence had never been received by the Unit, because its reception was not recorded in the respective ledger kept by the Evidence Control Section, or in the internal control ledgers. He also stated that the evidence that existed and that apparently belonged to the Carpio Nicolle case was not fully identified, with the exception of some bullets and some empty cartridge cases, which had supposedly been collected from the site of the facts.32 2. The domestic proceeding 76(34) From the time of the armed conflict and up until today, the Guatemalan courts of justice have not investigated, prosecuted, tried and punished those responsible for human rights violations. In the instant case, the courts of justice have acted without independence and impartiality, applying legal norms and provisions that are contrary to due process or failing to apply the appropriate ones. 76(35) The judicial proceeding to determine the criminal liability of the perpetrators of the attack against Jorge Carpio Nicolle and his delegation began in July 1993 and ended in August 1999, with the acquittal of all the accused. 30 Cf. copy of the domestic judicial file of the Carpio case (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, appendix 1, Piece XX). 31 Cf. complaint filed by the prosecutor, Abraham Méndez García, on February 8, 1995, before the United Nations Verification Commission for Guatemala (file with appendixes to the application, appendix 10, tome I, vol. 2, folios 635 to 659). 32 Cf. copy of the domestic judicial file of the Carpio case (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, appendix 1, Piece XLIV).