5. That on October 24, 1994, the Inter-American Commission, "acting pursuant to Article 29 of its Rules of Procedure" requested that "given the seriousness of the denunciation," the Government of the Republic of Guatemala (hereinafter "Guatemala" or "the Government") adopt the following precautionary measures on behalf of the aforementioned witnesses: a) Adopt provisional measures to guarantee the right to life and personal integrity of the aforementioned persons; b) Inform the military authorities of the Military Zone —to which the Voluntary Civil Defense Committees of San Pedro Jocopilas answer— in order for the authorities to inform the Committees of the situation and instruct them to control any activity carried out by its members that may threaten or attack the protected persons; c) Since the measures are destined to guarantee the tranquility of the protected persons, that the Government make a serious and effective investigation into the threats and to punish those responsible, and d) Guarantee the free appearance of the witnesses at the criminal trial and the normal development of the process, and to tighten the precautions to avoid reprisals arising from their testimonies. 6. That on December 7, 1994, the Government replied to the Com-mission that it was inadmissible to request such precautionary measures since, according to the Political Constitution of Guatemala, "[i]t is the responsibility of the State to guarantee its citizens the life, liberty, justice, security, peace, and integral development of the individual and that Guatemala had an internal legal system that controlled the means to accomplish this" and that with respect to concrete measures requested, it informed: a. that only Mrs. Fischer and Mr. Arrivillaga had fulfilled the obligation of denouncing the threats; b. that Mrs. Fischer's denunciation has been attended to by the judicial authorities; c. that the National Police investigated the harassment to Mr. Arrivillaga; d. that Mr. Girón denied having received death threats before the competent authorities; e. that since November 10, 1994, the Headquarters of the National Police had established a permanent personal security service with three patrol units and the corresponding crew for Lic. Marta Arrivillaga de Carpio, Mrs. Karen Fischer de Carpio, and the offices of "El Gráfico" newspaper; f. that with respect to Mr. Arrivillaga, the necessary contacts were being made to provide him with the security that he had before and which had been withdrawn on October 13, 1994. 7. That during its visit in loco to Guatemala in December of 1994, the Commission "learned of the continuous threats received by Prosecutor Abraham Méndez" and requested from the Government "protection for the Prosecutor in the Jorge Carpio-Nicolle Case in view of the threats and intimidating acts against him;" 8. That according to the document submitted by the Commission on May 31, 1995, it received additional information from the petitioners stating the following: The situation of serious danger faced by the witness, next of kin, and even authorities that investigate the case has not decreased. We have great fear that the threats and assaults may intensify in the near future, given the current development of the case. On April 19, 1995, the Tenth Court of Appeals decided in favor of an appeal interposed by the private prosecutor. In regards to the events, this means that the action will probably be reopened for more evidence. Consid-ering that the facts denounced in the previous writings occurred while testimony was open, next of kin, witnesses and attorneys fear that the threats and harassment may increase with the reopening of the case for testimony. The Special Prosecutor in the Carpio Case has received new threats. Recently, five