death, in order to be able to conclude that the person died as a result of the events of the taking and retaking of the Palace of Justice. 294. Regarding the possibility that the remains of the presumed victims were eliminated as a result of the fire in the Palace of Justice, the Court notes that both expert witness Duque and deponent Bacigalupo agree that the decomposition of a body by the action of fire depends on the temperature, the length of time it is exposed to the fire, and the dimensions of the body. 460 However, the deponents (one, an anthropologist who was an expert witness before the Truth Commission and the other, a doctor and an expert witness before the Court) differ as to whether this could have occurred in the instant case. Carlos Bacigalupo stated that, based on the coloring of the carbonized bodies and the specialized literature on this matter, it can be established that the “temperatures must have been […] around 500 to 700 degrees.” 461 In contrast, expert witness Duque indicated that “[a]ccording to the information available in this case [referring to the photographs of the events and reports of the firefighters], […] fire occurred in the Palace of Justice that burned out of control for several hours,” and that “[t]hese conditions indicate that, in that building, the temperature of the fire was in excess of 1,200 degrees centigrade (and could have reached more than 1,500 degrees) for more than two hours.” 462 The Court also notes that the Special Investigative Court indicated that the fire lasted for several hours and its intensity was such that “the experts calculated from 800 to 1,100°C” (supra para. 154). 295. In this regard, the Court points out the following: (i) there is no precise information on the temperature reached by the fire in the Palace of Justice and the temperatures reported cannot be taken as final or exact data one way or the other; (ii) on the fourth floor of the Palace of Justice, where the fire had the greatest impact, carbonized corpses were removed and, although they were incomplete in some cases, they had not completely disappeared, and (iii) even though it is scientifically possible that a body is completely consumed by fire, as stated by expert witness Duque, 463 it is very difficult for a body to be consumed to the point that only ashes remain, as stated by both Carlos Bacigalupo, and pathologists in the domestic sphere. 464 Regarding the latter, the Court underscores the 460 Cf. Written report of Máximo Duque Piedrahíta (evidence file, folio 36440), and Testimony of Carlos Bacigalupo during the public hearing on the merits in this case. 461 Testimony of Carlos Bacigalupo during the public hearing on the merits in this case. 462 Written report of Máximo Duque Piedrahíta (evidence file, folios 36440 and 36441). 463 Cf. Testimony of Máximo Duque Piedrahíta during the public hearing on the merits in this case. 464 Mr. Bacigalupo indicated that “the abundant literature on the treatment of carbonized corpses indicates, basically, that it is extremely difficult that a human body disappears by the action of fire. […] There will always be some evidence and fragments of the remains, unless it has been subjected to the fire for so long that it disappears.” “For this to occur, […] a series of special conditions must be created that did not occur during the fire in the Palace of Justice; [for example,] there must be constant extremely high temperatures, in excess of 1,000 degrees centigrade for more than two or three hours and this entails very special conditions. In the conditions that occurred in the Palace of Justice, it is known that it is not probable that the remains would have disappeared. Remains were always recovered and when the photographs of the removal of the corpses are examined, it can be seen, even in the case of the corpses from the fourth floor that are visible, that they can be recovered, that they are there, that they have not disappeared.” Testimony of Carlos Bacigalupo during the public hearing on the merits in this case. Similarly, in the proceedings against the Commander of the 13th Brigade there is a note of January 1988, in which several pathologists advise that “worldwide forensic experience with human bodies subjected to very large fires that generated high temperatures has been that the bodies do not disappear totally, and it is highly improbable that they only leave traces that cannot be seen,” clarifying that “[i]n the specific case of the Palace of Justice, in which high temperatures were generated, […] and as the Palace building is not an open space, it could have behaved like a cremation oven where combustion for more than one hour at 1,000 degrees centigrade leaves bone spicules.” In this regard, the first instance court in the proceedings against the Commander of the 13th Brigade concluded that “[t]hus it is clear that subjecting a body to extreme temperatures may eventually reduce it to a degree that makes its identification by any method impossible; however, there is also very little probability that a human being disappears completely, to the point of not leaving any trace, residue or evidence that would allow his or her existence to be presumed.” Extract from the note of January 8, 1988, signed by the pathologists, Rodrigo Restrepo Molina and others and addressed to the 30th 105