48
Depaz, Abraham Alvarado Tecú (or Agapito Alvarado Depáz), Manuel de Jesús Alarcón Morente
and Edmundo or Raymundo Alarcón Morente. Said report was presented to the assistant
prosecutor of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Rabinal and the remains were handed over to the
victims’ next of kin (supra para. 100). It is after the issuance of this report that the whereabouts
of the four persons mentioned became known definitively.
150. In conclusion, the Court considers it proven that the 22 alleged victims were deprived of
their liberty by members of the State security forces, i.e. soldiers, patrolmen and “judicial”
personnel. 166
151. Almost ten years after these events, and in the context of the investigations carried out in
relation to the instant case, the authorities denied that the area where the facts took place was
under military control in 1982, which is the period in which most of the 22 alleged victims were
deprived of their liberty. Thus, in a letter dated May 9, 1993, the Commander of Military Reserves
informed the judge of the Criminal Court of First Instance of Baja Verapaz that “there were no
military commissioners in that village (Chichupac) in 1982 because the area ha[d] been taken
over as a base for terrorist operations […] therefore no one held the position of military
commissioner, and also no commission could be appointed on January 8, 1982.” 167 Thus, the
presence and participation of military personnel in the area was denied. This shows that the
Army authorities withheld information about what happened to the victims, which, if that is the
case, is consistent with the denial of information that is part of an enforced disappearance.
152. These facts were also brought to the attention of the State authorities in various ways and
at various times. First, through several complaints filed by family members and neighbors with
the Office of Guatemala’s Human Rights Ombudsman and the Public Prosecutor's Office. 168
Second, in the CEH Report published in 1999. 169 Third, through the reports that the FAFG
presented to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the context of the investigations and forensic
166
As indicated, these persons were detained in the following ways: a) in or near their homes and remained in State
custody while being transferred to an unknown place; b) on the road to Rabinal and were taken to the jail in the
Municipality of Rabinal, where they remained in state custody and where they were last seen alive by their family
members; c) on the road to Rabinal and they were then taken to the school in the hamlet of Chirrum, where they were
held in State custody and were last seen alive by their relatives; d) in their homes and remained in state custody while
they were taken to a cemetery, where they were last seen alive by a person who managed to escape; e) on the road to
Rabinal, with no information on their whereabouts, and f) in the colony of Chichupac with no information on their
whereabouts.
167
Cf. Official letter from the Departmental Commander of Military Reserves of May 9, 1993 (evidence file, folio
711).
168
Cf. Complaint filed by Máxima Emiliana García Valey and Francisco Sic Chen of June 20, 1995, on the forced
disappearance of Marcelo Sic Chen and María Concepción Chen Sic (evidence file, folios 1576 to 1577). Likewise, on
October 25, 2000, Aurelio Juárez López denounced before the Public Prosecution Service of Rabinal, Department of Baja
Verapaz, the disappearance of Pedro Siana (evidence file, folios 447 to 449). In addition, in a letter dated July 12, 1995,
the departmental assistant of the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office of Guatemala in Salamá informed the District
Prosecutor's Office of Salamá of the complaints filed for the disappearance of Juan Mendoza Alvarado, José Cruz
Mendoza, Leonardo Cahuec Gonzales and Lorenzo Depaz Ciprián (evidence file, folios 1351 to 1353). In a letter dated
August 6, 1997, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala informed the District Prosecutor’s Office of
Salamá of the complaint filed by Francisca González Tecú regarding the disappearance of her father Gorgonio Gonzalez
Gonzalez. On May 8, 2003, Francisca González Tecú appeared before said prosecutor’s office and reiterated the facts of
her initial complaint. Cf. Letter of August 6, 1997m of the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman of Guatemala
(evidence file, folio 9141), and statement of Francisca González Tecú and Clementina Bachan Cahuec of May 8, 2003
before the Assistant Prosecutor of the District Prosecutor of the Salamá Public Prosecution Service (evidence file, folios
9142 and 9143). In a statement before the assistant prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office of the Public
Prosecution Service in Guatemala City, Vicenta Alvarado Mendoza reported the disappearance of her father José Cruz
Mendoza Sucup and her brother Juan Mendoza Alvarado. Cf. Statement of Vicenta Mendoza Alvarado of November 15,
2002 (evidence file, folios 475 to 478). On May 9, 1995 Juana García Depaz reported the detention and disappearance
of Adrián García Manuel, Hugo García Depaz and Abraham Alvarado Depaz before the Office of the Human Rights
Ombudsman of Guatemala (evidence file, folios 1290 to 1291).
169
This report refers to the disappearance of Lorenzo Depaz Cipriano, and the execution of Leonardo Cahuec González,
Gorgonio Gonzalez Gonzalez and Eustaquio Ixtoc (sic). Cf. CEH, “Guatemala, Memory of Silence”, Cases submitted,
Annex II, pages 155, 162, 163.