23 Article 4(2) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, to the detriment of Mr. Raxcacó Reyes. 50. In relation to Article 4(6) of the Convention, the representatives indicated that the Guatemalan Congress revoked the decree regulating the domestic procedure regarding requests for clemency. Despite the legal vacuum, Mr. Raxcacó Reyes’ defense lawyer applied for a pardon before the Ministry of Governance on May 19, 2004. This request has not been decided to date. According to the representatives, the State violated Article 4(6) of the American Convention by failing to decide on the request for clemency and by not establishing a legal procedure for processing such petitions. Arguments of the State 51. Regarding Article 4(1) of the American Convention, the State argued that: (a) It recognizes the fundamental right of the individual to the protection of his life and that he should not be deprived of it arbitrarily; and (b) A court does not impose the death penalty mandatorily, but conducts the respective assessment of all the elements of evidence submitted by the parties and determines the punishment to be imposed on each guilty party. 52. Regarding Article 4(2) of the Convention, the State indicated that: (a) The death penalty is a punishment established and recognized by Guatemalan constitutional law, and the cases in which this punishment may not be imposed are regulated by law; (b) The death penalty is a punishment that should only be imposed in special circumstances; it is established for specific crimes, allowing the court to decide on its application, if it considers that the circumstances in which the crime was committed reveal the greater or special dangerousness of the perpetrator; (c) When delivering judgment, the Sixth Court for Criminal Sentencing, Drug-Trafficking and Environmental Crimes indicated that the imposition of the death penalty for the crime of kidnapping or abduction did not violate Article 4 of the Convention, because this punishment was established in Article 201 of the Penal Code, before the ratification of the American Convention in 1978; and (d) The reform of Article 201 of the Penal Code “entailed a clear violation of the provisions of Article 4(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights, because it established the death penalty as the principal punishment and 25 to 50 years of imprisonment as the secondary punishment.” 53. In relation to Article 4(6) of the Convention, the State indicated that it recognized that a pardon is the final remedy that can be granted to a person sentenced to death. It also recognized the existing legal vacuum, because the Penal Code regulates the pardon but there are no legal regulations to make this effective. To remedy this vacuum, it stated that it was developing a proposal to present a draft law to Congress to regulate the procedure for pardons.