42 command, as this crime could not have been committed by Noel de Jesús Beteta upon his own initiative. On January 29, 1999, he issued the order for the trial to commence, and in that trial there was an abusive use of a series of legal remedies recognized by Guatemalan legislation, by means of which the elucidation of the merit of commencement of the trial or the lack thereof was delayed. Several judges heard the cause before, and the judge who heard it previously would not decide the date of the hearing due to the responsibility involved in trying three high military authorities. The file passed on from one court to another without anyone assuming the responsibility of the trial until the Supreme Court of Justice, in a special ruling, decided which court should hear this proceeding. From the moment the order was issued for the trial to commence, he began to suffer threats and acts of intimidation of various types. He was summoned by the Secretary General of the judicial body that served as a direct link between the decisions of the Guatemalan Supreme Court of Justice and the corps of judges functioning in the country, who told him to be careful because the judges who issued decisions against members of the Army suffered accidents. They also sent packages simulating bombs to his office. These threats made him fearful, for which reason he sought protection through the presence of the United Nations Mission in Guatemala, as he did not trust the Guatemalan system or the security forces. He felt fear about rendering testimony before the Inter-American Court but he knew that he was doing his duty. Due to all the events that took place, he had to resign the judgeship and he decided to go into exile in Canada since April, 1999, and to date he has not returned to Guatemala, as there are no guarantees for his personal safety. g. Testimony of Gabriela Vásquez Smerilli, attorney26 She was appointed as verifier together with attorney Alfredo Balsells Tojo in the Mack Chang case, as an outcome of the agreement between the State and Helen Mack Chang before the Inter-American Commission on March 3, 2003. She was in charge of verifying compliance with commitments two to seven and ten of that agreement. Two reports were submitted as a result of her work. The first report was on August 23, 2000, and the second report was issued on October 4 of that same year. They asked the Minister of Defense -pursuant to commitment number two regarding exhibition of documents by that Ministry- for eight documents that had been requested several times by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and with respect to which they had not obtained a satisfactory reply. On September 7, the Minister answered the request, addressing his reply directly to the special prosecutor in the Mack Chang case. The first document was the “Parte de Novedades” or report on new developments by the Security Department of the Presidential General Staff during 1990. In his reply, the Minister of Defense stated that those documents did not exist because government resolution 228 of 1995 by the President of the Republic of Guatemala ordered the elimination of the Security Department of the Presidential General Staff and that, therefore, the documents were incinerated. 26 The witness rendered testimony on her role as a verifier in the Mack Chang Chang case within the domestic ambit.