42 VII-2 VIOLATIONS RELATED TO THE INVESTIGATIONS: RIGHTS TO PERSONAL LIBERTY, JUDICIAL GUARANTEES AND JUDICIAL PROTECTION, IN RELATION TO THE OBLIGATIONS TO RESPECT AND GUARANTEE RIGHTS Arguments of the parties and of the Commission 126. The Commission argued that the information available on the criminal cases shows that, to date, the investigations into the forced disappearances of José Adrián Rochac Hernández and Santos Ernesto Salinas have not advanced beyond the preliminary stages, or remain paralyzed, with no steps taken to collect evidence in order to determine the circumstances of the victims’ disappearance, their whereabouts, or the possible perpetrators. The Commission considered it extremely serious that a long period of time had elapsed since the State learned of the facts without having ordered an adequate and diligent investigation, thereby perpetuating a situation of impunity. According to the Commission, the information available indicates that the lack of results in this process has been due to generalized inactivity on the part of the authorities in charge of the investigation. 127. According to Commission, the measures ordered to search for the children through the habeas corpus actions lacked any diligence and were limited to treating the matter as a regular deprivation of liberty in normal circumstances, without taking into consideration that the alleged facts unfolded in a context characterized by a systematic pattern of disappearances of children, and that the search measures should have responded to the particularities of those contexts. The Commission considered that the motive given for dismissing the habeas corpus actions, in all five cases, is so laconic that it suggests the ineffectiveness of this remedy in practice. 128. During the public hearing, the Commission emphasized that, given the lack of progress made in prosecuting and identifying the possible perpetrators, the Amnesty Law has not been applied in these cases. However, it considered that it necessarily has an effect, in general terms, on the lack of investigation on the part of the prosecution service and the lack of progress on the part of the judicial authorities. The Commission also indicated that these effects are so obvious that, following the Court���s decision in the Case of the Massacres of El Mozote, it was necessary to file an action of unconstitutionality before the Supreme Court so that it could issue a specific and concrete mandate and, based on the outcome of that action of unconstitutionality or mandate, eventually order the judicial authorities and the prosecution service to continue with these investigations. Thus, the Commission considered that the very existence of the amnesty law has effects that are clearly reflected in the lack of progress and answers in the investigations. 129. The Commission concluded that the Salvadoran State violated the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial protection, enshrined in Articles 8(1) and 25(1) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, to the detriment of José Adrián Rochac Hernández, Santos Ernesto Salinas, Emelinda Lorena Hernández, Manuel Antonio Bonilla and Ricardo Abarca Ayala, as well as their named next of kin. 130. The representatives recalled that the victims’ next of kin have sought access to justice through appropriate legal remedies to locate their children, but that 30 years after their disappearance, these families express frustration and despair at the State’s failure to carry out serious investigations. They argued that the report of the Ombudsman’s Office, issued on September 2, 2004, on the forced disappearance of the Serrano Cruz sisters and others, which also mentions the victims in the instant case, was forwarded to the Attorney General, inter alia, and should have served as notitia criminis. Furthermore, this being a crime that is subject to public prosecution and a crime against humanity, it should have been investigated ex officio, according to domestic law, given that the Attorney General’s Office also has full control over criminal investigations and criminal actions.