70 165. The Court has evaluated the circumstances of this case, particularly the continued obstruction of Jennifer Harbury's efforts to learn the truth of the facts and, above all, the concealment of the corpse of Bámaca Velásquez and the obstacles to the attempted exhumation procedures that various public authorities created, and also the official refusal to provide relevant information. Based on these circumstances, the Court considers that the suffering to which Jennifer Harbury was subjected clearly constitutes cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, violating Article 5(1) and 5(2) of the Convention. The Court also considers that ignorance of the whereabouts of Bámaca Velásquez caused his next of kin the profound anguish mentioned by the Committee and, therefore, considers that they, too, are victims of the violation of the said Article. 166. In view of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the State violated Article 5(1) and 5(2) of the Convention, to the detriment of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez and also of Jennifer Harbury, José de León Bámaca Hernández, Egidia Gebia Bámaca Velásquez and Josefina Bámaca Velásquez. XIII VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 4 (RIGHT TO LIFE) 167. With regard to the violation of Article 4 of the Convention, the Commission alleged that: a) “[the a]gents of the Guatemalan armed forces violated Article 4(1) of the Convention when they executed Efraín Bámaca [Velásquez] while he was secretly detained by the Army”; and b) Bámaca Velásquez was confined in at least two clandestine detention centers and, according to existing indications and the passage of time, it can be presumed that he is dead. 168. As has been mentioned previously (supra 137 and 146), the State limited its defense to stating that “it has still not been possible to identify the persons or person criminally responsible for the unlawful acts against Mr. Bámaca [Velásquez] and, thus, clarify his disappearance” and, consequently, it did not submit any defense with regard to the violation of the right to life embodied in the American Convention, either at the procedural opportunity of the answer to the application or in its final arguments. * * 169. * Article 4(1) of the American Convention establishes that [e]very person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.

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