197. Regarding the next of kin of the victims who were executed, in its most recent case law in cases of massacres, the Court has reiterated that the next of kin of the victims of certain grave human rights violations, such as massacres, can, in turn, be victims of violations to their personal integrity.282 Also, in this type of case, the Court has considered that the right to mental and moral integrity of the victims' next of kin has been violated owing to the additional suffering and anguish they have experienced as a result of the subsequent acts or omissions of the State authorities in relation to those facts,283 and due to the absence of effective remedies.284 The Court has considered that “conducting an effective investigation is a fundamental and determinant element for the protection of certain rights that are violated or annulled by such situations.”285 198. The evidence presented reveals that there is a group of next of kin of the executed victims who, at the time, were not present in the places where the massacres that this case refers to occurred and, when they returned, they tried to find their relatives, but only found their mortal remains. The Court considers it especially serious that some of them had to gather up the bodies of their loved ones that were charred and/or in an advanced state of decomposition and, in some cases, incomplete, in order to bury them, without being able to give them a burial in accordance with their traditions, values or beliefs. 286 199. Among other statements in the case file, José Pablo Díaz Portillo, who was 12 years old at the time, testified that, about two months after the massacre, he went to the canton of Cerro Pando , where he lived with the members of his family, “and found such a disaster that it was difficult to control [him]self, because [he] saw many dead people who were disintegrating, torn apart by wild animals; walking around the nearby places [he only found] dead people, but was able to find some family members who had been murdered, who he was able to identify because they were in the place they lived.” There he identified the remains of his brother together with his seven children and his cousin with her three children; “all the bodies were scattered and decomposed,” but he did not bury them because he continued searching to see if anyone was alive. Days later he returned to the place of the massacre with his father, who had survived it, “and they tried to bury the members of their family, but it was difficult to recognize them and to gather up the human remains, because there were only bones and pieces that the wild animals had eaten; in the end, they dug a hole and buried the remains they could find together.”287 Jose Cruz Vigil stated that, he was not in the place where the massacre took place, but that his sister with her three children and his brother with his six children lived, in Los Toriles and Jocote Amarillo, respectively, and they all died in the massacre. Two weeks later he went to look for his brother, finding only his remains, which he buried.288 200. It is also evident from the case file that, in some cases, the next of kin of the executed victims have been involved in different actions such as the search for justice, taking part in the proceedings before the international jurisdiction (supra para. 32). Similarly, it has been verified that the lack of effective investigations in order to elucidate the facts and end the impunity in which the facts of this case remain have resulted in the next of kin of the executed victims 282 Cf. Case of the Mapiripán Massacre v. Colombia, para. 146, and Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 240. 283 Cf. Case of Blake v. Guatemala. Merits. Judgment of January 24, 1998. Series C No. 36, paras. 114 to 116, and Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 240.. 284 Cf. Case of the Serrano Cruz Sisters v. El Salvador. Merits, reparations and costs, paras. 113 to 115, and Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 240. 285 Case of the Pueblo Bello Massacre v. Colombia, para. 145, and Case of the Río Negro Massacres v. Guatemala, para. 240. 286 Cf. Case of the Ituange Massacres v. Colombia, para. 260 287 Affidavit provided by José Pablo Díaz Portillo on April 1, 2012 (evidence file, tome XVII, affidavits, folio 10298). 288 Cf. Sworn statement made by José Cruz Vigil del Cid before the Oficina de Tutela Legal del Arzobispado on June 19, 2011 (evidence file, tome VIII, annex 3 to the pleadings and motions brief, folios 5558 to 5559). 64