secured immediately to submit them to an expert appraisal. Furthermore, the investigation did not examine discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender expression as a possible motive for torture. Lastly, during the investigation, various state agents used discriminatory stereotyping that prevented an objective examination of the facts. B.3 The absence of an investigation into the crime of torture 206. This Court has established the ill-treatment to which the presumed victim was subjected constituted torture (supra para. 165). The criminal investigation was conducted based on the offenses of aggravated rape and abuse of authority.271 The presumed victim requested that the investigation be expanded to include the crime of torture.272 The prosecutor decided not to expand the investigation, indicating that the legal definition of the crime of torture “required the intention that the criminal conduct produce a result.” He noted that the presumed victim: [N]ever mentioned that the police agents obliged [her] to provide information on the whereabouts of [her] brother, alias “Tuco”; therefore, since the additional third subjective element of the legal definition of the crime of torture (to obtain from the victim or a third party a confession or information) was not present, the conduct of the defendants did not fall within the definition of the aforementioned wrongful act.273 207. This decision was based on the legal definition of the offense in force at the time, which restricted the possible purposes of torture.274 The Court recalls that, according to its case law, torture can be committed with any objective or purpose (supra para. 160), including for discriminatory purposes. The definition of torture in Article 2 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture establishes several objectives or purposes, but adds “or for any other purpose.” The Court considers that, in this case, the inadequate legal definition of torture275 prevented the expansion of the investigation into the ill-treatment inflicted on Ms. Rojas Marín. 208. Therefore, this decision violated Articles 8(1) and 25(1) of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to the general obligations contained in Articles 1(1) and 2 of this instrument, and Articles 1, 6 and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. B.4 The dismissal decision 209. On January 9, 2009, the Ascope First Preliminary Investigation Court declared that the request of the Public Prosecution Service was well-founded and dismissed the proceedings for Cf. Order to dismiss the proceedings issued by the Ascope First Preliminary Investigation Court on January 9, 2009 (evidence file, folio 2954). 271 272 Cf. Request filed by Azul Rojas Marín on May 5, 2008 (evidence file, folios 115, 116 and 117). Cf. Decision of the First Superior Criminal Prosecutor of La Libertad Judicial District (evidence file, folio 2912). 273 of August 28, 2008 Article 321 of the Peruvian Criminal Code established: “The public official or servant or any other person, with the consent or acquiescence of the former, who inflicts on another severe pain or suffering, either physical or mental, or subjects that person to conditions or methods that annul their personality or diminish their physical or mental capacity, even though this does not cause physical pain or mental distress, in order to obtain from the victim or from a third person a confession or information, or to punish them for any act that they may have committed or be suspected of having committed, or to intimate them or to coerce them, shall be punished by five to ten years’ imprisonment. If the torture causes the death of the aggrieved person or serious injury is produced and the agent could have foreseen this result, the imprisonment shall be, respectively, from eight to twenty years, and from six to twelve years. Cf. Peruvian Criminal Code, Legislative Decree No. 635 published on April 8, 1991, article 321 (evidence file, folio 5188). 274 275 Cf. Affidavit of Juan Ernesto Méndez of August 1, 2019 (evidence file, folio 3398). 55