70 Court notes that on December 5, 1997, 264 and January 29, 1998, 265 Miguel Sic Osorio, Fabiana Chen Galiego and Teresa Cacaj Cahuec made a request to the Court of First Instance to join the proceedings as plaintiffs. However, it was not until March 1999, that is, more than one year after the initial request that this matter was resolved, due to the fact that File No. 255-93, related to the exhumation of 1993, had been lost. 266 In this regard, the Court considers that the delay of more than one year in resolving the request to join the proceedings violated the right of the next of kin to participate in the proceedings. This Court also considers that the “misplacement” of File No. 255-93 Of. 4 denotes per se a lack of due diligence in the investigation. B.1.1.3. Obstruction 231. Finally, this Court has pointed out that the State authorities are obliged to collaborate in obtaining evidence to achieve the objectives of an investigation and refrain from acts that obstruct its progress. 267 In this regard, the Court found that, in response to the request of the judge of the Criminal Court of First Instance of May 7, 1993 268 for the names of the persons who served as military commissioners and assistant commissioners in the municipality of Rabinal in 1982, as well as information on whether they had been assigned to any mission on January 8 of that year, the Commander of Military Reserves replied on May 9, 1993, that “there were no military commissioners in that village in 1982 because the area had been taken over as a base for terrorist operations [,…] thus […]no commission could have been appointed on January 8, 1982.” 269 As noted previously, according to the CEH, the Army regarded the municipality of Rabinal as a strategic area during the internal armed conflict, and between 1981 and 1983 the military or paramilitary groups killed at least 20% of the local population (supra para. 84). In addition, it was members of the Guatemalan Army assigned to the Rabinal military post, judicial police and military commissioners who perpetrated the massacre at the clinic in the village of Chichupac on January 8, 1982 (supra paras. 89 and 90). Thus, the denial of the existence of military commissioners in the area in 1982, and of the presence and participation of military personnel in operations, was a clear attempt to conceal the names of the persons possibly responsible for the massacre. B.1.1.4. Conclusion regarding File No. 001-2005-95839 232. From the foregoing it is clear that in the context of the investigation of the massacre of January 8, 1982, the State committed a series of failures of due diligence and at least one obstruction, which prevented the effective investigation, prosecution and eventual punishment of those responsible. B.1.2. Files opened in relation to events that occurred before and after the massacre of January 8, 1982 233. Based on an evaluation of the nine files opened in relation to the events that occurred before and after the massacre of January 8, 1982, the Court has verified the following. Cf. Brief filed on December 5, 1997, by Miguel Sic, Fabiana Chen and Teresa Cacaj to join the proceedings as plaintiffs (evidence file, folios 636 to 645). From this point, the documents indicate that it is File No. 916-97 Of. 4, but all is included within the certification of File No. 001-2005-95839. Thereafter, it appears File 255-93 Of. 4, the case was again identified with this number. 265 Cf. Brief filed by Miguel Sic, Fabiana Chen and Teresa Cacaj on January 29, 1998 (evidence file, folios 632 and 633). 266 Cf. Ruling of the Judge of First Instance for Drug-related Activity and Environmental Crimes of Baja Verapaz of March 30, 1999 and Certification of File No. 001-2005-95839 (evidence file, folios 619 and 620), and official letter of the Judge of First Instance dated June 18, 1998 (evidence file, folio 627). 267 Cf. Case of García Prieto et al. v. El Salvador. Preliminary objections, merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 20, 2007. Series C No. 168, para. 112, and Case of the Rio Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 209. 268 Cf. Official letter from the Judge of First Instance of May 7, 1993 (evidence file, folio 712). 269 Cf. Official letter of the Commander of the Departmental Military Reserves May 9, 1993 (evidence file, folio 711). 264