44 in the sector known as “La Peste” in the General Southern Cemetery in Caracas, in violation of legal and administrative rules that regulate the respective procedures. State officials at first publicly denied the existence of common graves;37 66.6. on October 23, 1990 COFAVIC, the Red de Apoyo por la Justicia y la Paz and other persons filed a complaint before the Public Prosecutor’s Office about the alleged irregular burials of unidentified bodies in the General Southern Cemetery in Caracas, which took place from February 27, 1989 to October 15, 1990. The matter was referred to the Tenth Trial Court for Criminal Matters and Safeguarding of Public Patrimony, of the Judicial District of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, which began a summary investigation on the matter on October 30, 1990;38 66.7. on November 5, 1990 the Tenth Trial Court for Criminal Matters and Safeguarding of Public Patrimony, of the Judicial Disrict of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, conducted judicial inspections in the General Southern Cemetery, to establish whether there had been irregularities in processing of the entry of corpses buried in the common graves. On that occasion, it “certified that the victims of the events of 27/2/89, buried in the North 6 sector (“la Peste”), are not recorded in the registers.” Subsequently, said court ordered the exhumation of bodies in the aforementioned cemetery, which began on November 13, 1990 under the direction of a multidisciplinary team of the General Division of Forensic Medicine;39 66.8. on November 28, 1990 the public was informed that the first remains had appeared in plot number 6 north of the “La Peste” sector of the General Southern Cemetery, in the city of Caracas. This was based on exhumation of numerous corpses, of which only 68 died in February or March, 1989. 64 corpses were found and disinterred, and three of these bodies of victims in the instant case were identified and delivered to their next of kin: those of José del Carmen Pirela León, Javier Rubén Rojas Campos, and Leobardo Antonio Salas Guillén. In March, 1991 three additional corpses had been 37 Cf. El Caracazo Case, supra note 28, para. 2, subparagraphs n and o; and September 23, 1999 order of the Political-Administrative Court of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (file with evidence on El Caracazo Case, under the title “Documents submitted by the Republic of Venezuela on November 10, 1999, at the public hearing on the merits of the instant case. Volume I,” at the Secretariat of the Court). 38 Cf. September 23, 1999 order of the Political-Administrative Court of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (file with evidence on El Caracazo Case, under the title “Documents submitted by the Republic of Venezuela on November 10, 1999, at the public hearing on the merits of the instant case. Volume I,” at the Secretariat of the Court; January 22, 1997 order of the Tenth Trial Court for Criminal Matters; and “Salvaguarda del Patrimonio Público de la Circunscripción Judicial del Área Metropolitana de Caracas” (appendix 7 of the application filed by the Inter-American Commission in the Caracazo Case). 39 Cf. El Caracazo Case, supra note 28, para. 2, subparagraph p; September 23, 1999 order of the Political-Administrative Court of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (file with evidence on El Caracazo Case, under the title “Documents submitted by the Republic of Venezuela on November 10, 1999, at the public hearing on the merits of the instant case. Volume I,” at the Secretariat of the Court); and official No. 9700-129-963 of September 14, 2000 from the Head of the General Division of Forensic Medicine, Technical Corps of the Judiciary Police, addressed to the agent of the State appointed before the Court (file with evidence on the Caracazo Case, under the title “Evidentiary appendices supplied by the State of Venezuela together with the brief on Reparations. Volume II,” at the Secretariat of the Court).