were made aware that at any time they could request the extension of the investigation of the defendants and they did not do so. 275 B.3. Group 4: Jorge Martínez Meléndez 276 B.3.1. Jorge Martínez’s responsibilities, first period of pretrial detention, request for asylum in Canada and extradition to Costa Rica 207. According to the facts established in judgment No. 680-2007 of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, Mr. Martínez acted as a representative of the Second Vice Presidency of the Republic of Costa Rica in charge of coordinating the Social Compensation and Land Titling Programs, 277 as of July 17, 1995. 278 At the same time, Mr. Martínez was hired to work on Project CAM/92/0009- Social Route of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from January 2 to June 30, 1997. 279 He was accused of having committed acts of embezzlement while working as coordinator of the Social Compensation Commission and, on August 21, 1998, the Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Crimes submitted to the Special Duty Criminal Court a request to send Mr. Martínez Meléndez to pretrial detention. 280 On August 22, 1998, said court ordered him to be remanded in custody for a period of six months, which ended on February 22, 1999. According to information provided by the Prosecutor’s Office, Mr. Martínez allegedly pressured a witness “so that he would not talk” and participated in the “theft of public documents [to] proceed with their destruction.” Based on this, the court considered that Mr. Martínez could create a procedural obstacle by tampering with the missing evidence […] for the purpose of evading justice and his criminal liability.” 281 On February 19, 1999, prior to the expiration of the period of his pretrial detention, the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José extended the custodial measure for a period of six months until August 18, 1999. However, considering that “there [were] no clear indications that the accused, if released, would hinder the investigation,” the pretrial detention was replaced with other measures, such as bail for the sum of 30 million colones, the obligation to appear before the Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Crimes to sign on every fifteen days, and the prohibition to leave the country. 282 275 Cf. Decision 2009-0251 of the Court of Criminal Cassation of Cartago, of August 25, 2010, (evidence file, folio 1997). 276 Jorge Martínez is a lawyer Cf. Certification of the Lawyers’ Association of Costa Rica, of May 25, 2015 (evidence file, folio 25729). 277 According to the facts established in judgment No. 680-2007, the Social Compensation Program was created on July 7, 1995 by Decree 24478-MP. Its objective was to “provide economic support to eligible families […], to meet their debts and obligations related to their plots, parcels, housing and services […]”. The Land Titling Program was established on April 4, 1995 through Executive Decree 24199-MP. The purpose of this institution was to "donate to the beneficiaries [...] the costs necessary to provide them with a registered property title, [...] the target population of this program being the consolidated holders of property belonging to public institutions. Cf. Judgment No. 680-2007 of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, of July 17, 2007 (evidence file, folios 34167 and 34170). 278 Cf. Judgment No. 680-2007 of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, of July 17, 2007 (evidence file, folio 34175). 279 Cf. Service contract between the Project CAM/92/0009-Ruta Social and Jorge Martínez Meléndez, of January 2, 1997, (evidence file, folio 25730). 280 Cf. Decision of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, of December 3, 2003 (evidence file, folio 2003). 281 Cf. Decision of the Special Duty Criminal Court of August 22, 1998, (evidence file, folio 26256). 282 Cf. Decision of the Criminal Court of the First Judicial Circuit of San José, of February 19, 1999 (evidence file, folios 2026 and 2040) 67