57. On June 23, 2000, the Joint Board of General Officers of the Armed Forces issued a report on the events, which includes the initial statements of the four soldiers who took part in them, and also of one of the survivors, the truck driver, and another witness. As a result of this report, based on article 3 of the Code of Justice of the Armed Forces (Law No. 3,483 of 1953), the soldiers Ferison LaGrange Vargas, Santiago Florentino Castilla, Bernardo de Aza Nuñez and Johannes Paul Franco Camacho were referred to the Joint Court Martial of First Instance of the Armed Forces and the National Police (hereinafter “Court Martial of First Instance”) for trial. In addition, it ordered that the civilians Ruddy Jimenez Ortiz, Felix Antonio Nuñez Peña and Ramon A. Estevez Liriano, involved in presumed human trafficking, be brought before the ordinary courts. The report also emphasized that an additional investigation should be carried out into the complaint that soldiers from the area were engaged in “collecting money to allow the trafficking of undocumented [persons].” Lastly, the report recommended that no judicial or disciplinary action be taken against privates Pedro María Peña Santos, Fernando Contreras Alcantara and Wilkins Siri Tejada, because “they had not committed offenses.”96 58. On July 13, 2000, the Prosecutor of the Court Martial of First Instance presented an “originating order” before the investigating judge of the said Court Martial of First Instance, requiring the prosecution of the four soldiers “as alleged perpetrators of the crime of intentional homicide, to the detriment of the deceased, Máximo Ruben de Jesus Espinal, Dominican, and the Haitian nationals [Jacqueline Maxime, Roselene Therméus, Ilfaudia Dorzema, Nadege Dorzema, Pardis Fortilus and Fritz Alce]; and the injury of six other individuals, in violation of articles 295, 304 and 309 of the Criminal Code.”97 This originating order did not individualize the injured persons. The same day, the Prosecutor of the Court Martial of First Instance required the Secretary of State for the Armed Forces to imprison the above-mentioned indicted soldiers.98 However, the evidence presented to the Court does not indicate that the order has been complied with. 59. On July 21, 2000, the prosecutor of the Court Martial of First Instance transferred the case to the Investigating Judge of the Court Martial of First Instance for the case to be reviewed.99 On the same date, this judge issued an order to open the proceeding.100 96 Cf. Report of the Joint Board of General Officers of the Armed Forces, supra, folio 841. 97 Cf. Originating order No. 15/2000 of the prosecutor of the Joint Court Martial of First Instance of the Armed Forces and the National Police of July 14, 2000 (file of proceedings before the Commission, tome II, folio 831). Also, Criminal Code of the Dominican Republic: Article 295. Anyone who voluntarily kills another person is guilty of homicide. Article 304. Anyone guilty of homicide shall be punished with 30 years’ hard labor, when the act precedes, is accompanied by or follows another crime. The same punished shall be imposed when the purpose has been to prepare, facilitate or execute a crime, or to promote the escape of the authors or accomplices of that crime, or to ensure its impunity. […] Article 463 of this Code is not applicable to the crimes established in this paragraph; while the provisions of articles 107 and 108 are applicable. Paragraph II. In any other case, anyone guilty of homicide shall be punished with hard labor. Article 309. Anyone who voluntarily injures, beats, commits acts of violence or assault and battery, if the victim should result with an ailment or the impossibility of working for more than 20 days, shall be punished with six months or two years’ imprisonment and a fine of from 500 to 5,000 pesos. He may also be sentenced to the deprivation of the rights mentioned in article 42 for at least one year and no more than five years. When the said violations have produced mutilation, amputation or deprivation of the use of a member, blindness, loss of an eye, or other disabilities, the punishment of imprisonment shall be imposed. If the injuries or the blows inflicted voluntarily have caused the death of the victim, the punishment shall be imprisonment, even when the intention of the attacker was not to cause his or her death. 98 Cf. Order on imprisonment No. 022-2000 of the prosecutor of the Joint Court Martial of First Instance of the Armed Forces and the National Police of July 14, 2000 (file of annexes to the merits report, tome I, folio 832). 99 Cf. Injunction No. 13(2000) of the prosecutor of the Joint Court Martial of First Instance of the Armed Forces and the National Police of July 21, 2000 (file of annexes to the merits report, tome II, folio 826). 100 Cf. Decision to open the criminal proceedings issued by the Joint Court Martial of First Instance of the Armed Forces and the National Police of July 21, 2000 (file of annexes to the merits report, tome I, folio 828). 21