33 captors asked him questions, threatened that if he investigated anything they would kill him, and warned him that they knew where his family lived; he knew that they were referring to the "white van case" because it was the only sensitive case in which he was involved; Mr. Carlos Morán-Amaya was a close friend who was investigating that case at the time that they were both kidnapped. Judge Trejo-Duque also said that he thought, about revoking the detention order issued by Judge Vicente Sagastume-Pérez. h. Testimony of Julio Enrique Caballeros-Seigne, former Director of the Guatemalan National Police The witness testified that he was currently a retired officer of the Guatemalan Army and that on March 10, 1988, a vehicle resembling one that had been sought for many months was seen on the highway leading to El Salvador. The vehicle was parked and his duty as Director of Police was to check its occupants. The vehicle had only one plate and several of its occupants, who wore the uniform of the Treasury Police and were armed, were detained by patrolmen; the Treasury Police agents were taken to the Second Precinct of the National Police, but refused to relinquish their weapons. A confrontation ensued between the members of the Treasury Police and the Second Precinct police. He pursued the trail of the white "van" because it was the common denominator in a series of crimes that were being investigated. He was unable to seize the vehicle at once because of Treasury Police intervention. He undertook an investigation on the basis of the seizure of the "van", for which purpose a team of experts was named. In his view, there was no reason for the vehicle in question to be in the possession of the Treasury Police, since it had been confiscated. The investigation showed that the Director-General of the Treasury Police had illegally used fourteen sets of registration plates belonging to private individuals. That the Treasury Police agents captured (on the El Salvador highway) said that they were conducting an operation, but that was not so. No pressure had been put on him to desist from his investigation. He acknowledged the content, authenticity and signature of the documents shown him during the public hearing (Police report, official communication No. 3214; Ref. BIEN. FOA/rrh, of June 6, 1988, and Official Communication of June 10, 1988, signed by Infantry Colonel DEM Julio Enriquez Caballeros-Seigne, Reference "Case No. 165, Official communication 7.") i. Report of Carlos Enrique Luna-Villacorta, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Rafael Landívar University in Guatemala A Code of Penal Procedure, now abrogated, was in force in Guatemala in 1988 and established an essentially written procedure which was very cumbersome, with an initial secret phase in which the parties found it practically impossible to learn what was going on, resulting in the delayed administration of justice. This private phase of the process was known as the summary phase ("etapa de sumario"). With the delay of justice a case could sometimes go on for six or seven years. In Guatemala the extinction of punishment for the crime of murder and kidnapping is twice the duration of the sentence. It is possible to bring a civil action independent of the criminal action. There is a constitutional provision establishing that the State is responsible for damage and injury caused by any public official or employee. Under the previous system, it was possible to appeal against a decision to dismiss a case. The former system allowed for a private accuser who could participate in the process, although this was not generally done. There are very few known cases in Guatemala in which a State agent has been accused of torture, decapitation and murder.