51. The death penalty is still established for the following crimes: 1. Abduction or kidnapping; 2. Parricide; 3. Extrajudicial execution; 4. Murder of the President or Vice-president of the Republic; 5. Crimes related to drug trafficking in which persons die. Some of these crimes make reference to the dangerousness of the agent as a decisive criterion for the imposition of the death penalty. 52. On February 12, 2008, Guatemalan Congress passed a law which restored the President’s power to condone the life or confirm the death penalty of those sentenced to it by means of a clemency request.23 However, that same month then President, Alvaro Colom, vetoed the law, arguing that it violated Guatemalan commitments under the American Convention.24 In January 2012, President Alvaro Colom vetoed again the restitution of the power of Presidential pardon for those sentenced to death penalty.25 53. On February 11, 2016 the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the phrase that enabled the death penalty to be sentenced in cases of murder. Said phrase read that “however, the death penalty will be imposed instead of the maximum imprisonment, if due to the circumstance of the acts and of the occasion, the way it was carried out and the determining motives, a greater dangerousness of the agent is revealed. Those who are not sentenced to the death penalty for this crime will not be granted a sentence reduction for any reason.” Although the Constitutional Court only ruled with respect to the crime of murder, the same phrase was declared unconstitutional with regards to the crimes of parricide, extrajudicial execution and in the murder of the President of the Vice-president. 54. According to information of public knowledge, in 2016 draft bills to both abolish and reinstate the death penalty were submitted to the National Congress. Draft bill 5100, filed on July 6, 2016 aims to approve the abolition of the death penalty law. Draft bill 4941, lodged on February 4, 2016 aims to reinstate the death penalty and regulate the procedure to seek for clemency.26 B. The criminal proceedings against the alleged victims 1. Proceedings during the pre-trial phase 55. During the investigative phase, while the alleged victims were deprived of their liberty, there were proceedings that took place while the alleged victims did not have legal defense. 56. According to the case record, on April 19, 1993, Roberto Girón gave his “initial statement” for the purpose of the investigations (“declaración indagatoria”) before the First Peace Judge.27 In this Convention. The Commission has received information that the Court of First Criminal Instance, Narcoactivity and Crimes against the Environment of the Department of Santa Rosa, Cuilapa issued a similar decision on May 8, 1997, in the case of Guillermo López Contreras, having determined that, under the terms of the applicable legal regime, the court could not legally impose the death penalty for a crime for which that punishment was not prescribed at the time of Convention ratification. The Commission recognizes and values such decisions which properly respect and reflect the international human rights obligations which the State has undertaken.” See IAHCR, Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1997, Guatemala, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.98, Doc.6, February 17, 1998, para. 27. 23 See Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, Decree Number 6-2008, Ley Reguladora de la Conmutación de la Pena para los Condenados a Muerte (Law regulating sentence commutation for those sentenced to death.) 24 News article published at: elmundo.es, Colom veta la ley que restituyó la pena de muerte en Guatemala (Colom vetoes the law that reinstated the death penalty in Guatemala,) March 15, 2008; News article published at: BBCMundo.com, Colom vetó pena de muerte (Colom vetoed the death penalty,) March 15, 2008. 25 News article published at: laprensa.com.ni, Colom veta ley con que reactivarían pena de muerte (Colom vetoes law that would reactivate the death penalty,) November 5, 2010. 26 Iniciativas de ley presentadas ante el Congreso de la República de Guatemala (Draft bills lodged before the National Congress of Guatemala.) 27 Annex 1. Initial statement rendered by Roberto Girón before the First Peace Judge, April 19, 1993. Annex A to the observations brief of the State submitted on September 5, 1996. 9