80 Procedures Code would be applied to common crimes committed by the military and that they would be tried by regular Courts;198 Obstructions to justice by State bodies The police investigation 134.86. on September 11, 1990, the Homicide Section of the Criminological Investigations Department of the National Police began its investigations on the murder of Myrna Mack Chang. Said investigations suffered numerous irregularities and demonstrated lack of will to pursue an adequate investigation, as the police did not adequately protect the scene of the occurrence, nor did they take fingerprints of the victim arguing that it had rained, even though the meteorological report for that day states that it did not rain; they did not take prints that might be found in the vehicle or blood samples; they cleaned Myrna Mack Chang’s fingernails and discarded the content of the scrapings “because the samples were too small” and therefore did not conduct the laboratory analysis; her clothes were not examined; and the set of pictures of the wounds is incomplete because, according to their statement, “the camera or flash was damaged;”199 134.87. José Mérida Escobar and Julio Pérez Ixcajop, National Police investigators assigned to investigate the murder, submitted a report on September 29, 1990, in which they concluded that Myrna Mack Chang had been murdered for political reasons. They also mentioned Noel de Jesús Beteta Álvarez, a sergeant major in the Army who was a member of the Presidential Security Department of the Presidential General Staff, as a suspect of the murder. Furthermore, they stated that State security officers had previously kept watch on Myrna Mack Chang. This report was not submitted immediately by the National Police to the competent court, but rather several months later;200 134.88. carrying out orders of Colonel Julio Caballeros, then the Director of the National Police, the previous report was substituted by another, briefer report dated November 4, 1990, which was forwarded to the courts. This report stated that the motivation of the crime could have been robbery;201 198 Cf. Order of the Constitutional Court of March 15, 2001 (file with annexes to the application, annex 40, leaves 770 to 776 and file with annexes to the brief answering the application and raising preliminary objections, leaves 7043 to 7049). 199 Cf. testimony of Iduvina Hernández rendered before the Court on February 19, 2003; report by the Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico, “Guatemala, memoria del silencio,” volume VI, pages 235 to 244 (file with annexes to the application, annex 42, leaves 788 to 793); Report issued by the Criminological Investigations Department of the National Police on September 29, 1990 (file with annexes to the application, annex 43, leaves 795 to 840 and file with annexes to the brief with requests, pleadings and evidence submitted by the representatives of the next of kin of the victim, annex R-VII-38, leaves 3100 to 3121); and forensic investigation report prepared by Dr. Robert H. Kirschner (file with annexes to the brief with requests, pleadings and evidence submitted by the representatives of the next of kin of the victim, annex R-III-01, leaves 1831 to 1833). 200 Cf. testimony of Rember Larios Tobar rendered before the Court on February 19, 2003; and report issued by the Criminological Investigations Department of the National Police on September 29, 1990 (file with annexes to the application, annex 43, leaves 795 to 840 and file with annexes to the brief with requests, pleadings and evidence submitted by the representatives of the next of kin of the victim, annex R-VII-38, leaves 3100 to 3121). 201 Cf. Report issued by the Criminological Investigations Department of the National Police on November 4, 1990 (file with annexes to the application, annex 45, leaves 855 to 868 and file with