114. In the instant case, Mr. Flores Bedregal's sisters repeatedly requested that the national authorities open an investigation into forced disappearance. 161 However, the autonomous criminal offence of forced disappearance was not applied in the Liability Trials or in the proceedings related to the investigation of the events that occurred with relation to Mr. Flores Bedregal. The criminal offenses investigated refer to the crimes of armed uprising against the security and sovereignty of the State or of concealment and false testimony, which protect other legal rights related to the security and sovereignty of the State or to judicial activity. In fact, with the exception of homicide, no other conduct concurrent with the configuration of forced disappearance as a complex criminal offense was considered. 115. The above means that the investigations and judicial proceedings were not consistent with the gravity of the continuing violations perpetrated against Juan Carlos Flores Bedregal; with the historical and political context in which they were carried out; with the characteristics of the pact of silence that hindered the due clarification of the facts; with the complexity of the multiple violations of rights that the forced disappearance of persons entails; and with the challenges of clarifying the truth and repairing the consequences. In short, the failure to apply the autonomous criminal offense of forced disappearance existing in legislation or of other measures to make the rights protected by the Convention in cases of forced disappearance effective resulted in a fragmented approach that far from reflected the complexity of the facts and enabled the lines of investigation leading to clarification of the case. 162 This omission fails to meet the standards that should guide the investigation of forced disappearance as established in this Court's case law and the decisions of other treaty bodies; the provisions of the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; the InterAmerican Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons; and the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 163 116. Therefore, this Court considers that the State is responsible for failing to comply with the obligation set forth for in Article 2 of the American Convention, 164 in violation of the judicial 161 Cf. Complaint filed by the attorney Eulogia Pantoja Vacaflor, supra, in which it is mentioned that "it is not known where his body is [...] it must be taken into account that forced disappearance in political matters is a criminal offense against humanity and does not prescribe, according to its last part of the (new) Code of Procedure [...]"; brief by Verónica and Olga Flores Bedregal addressed to the Vice President of Bolivia as Director of the Interinstitutional Council for the Clarification of forced disappearances, stamped in acknowledgment of receipt in August 5, 2003, requesting that the search for the remains of Carlos Flores Bedregal also be included (case file of evidence, p. 254); appeals for annulment and cassation against Judgment 129/2007 and Court Order No. 103/2008, presented by Olga Beatriz Flores Bedregal before the Third Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice on January 24, 2009 (case file of evidence, p. 434-455), and appeal for annulment against Court Order No. 103/2008, presented by María Soledad Quiroga Trigo before the Third Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of May 12, 2009 (case file of evidence, p. 8107-8122). 162 Cf. Case of Julien Grisonas family v. Argentina, supra, para. 206. 163 Cf. Case of Bámaca Velásquez v. Guatemala. Supervision of Compliance with Judgment, Order of the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights of January 27, 2009, Recital 27, and Case of Ibsen Cárdenas and Ibsen Peña v. Bolivia, supra, para. 197. 164 As the Court has pointed out, the forced disappearance of a person continues to exist until their whereabouts are found or their remains are identified with certainty (Cf. Case of Velásquez-Rodríguez v. Honduras. Merits, supra, paras. 155-157, and Case of Vereda La Esperanza v. Colombia. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of August 31, 2017, Series C No. 341, para. 150). However, the cessation of forced disappearance does not affect the classification of the facts that shaped it in this way (Cf. Case of Rodríguez Vera et al. (The Disappeared from the Palace of Justice) v. Colombia, supra, para. 368). The obligations established by the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance are enforceable upon ratification, even if the beginning of its execution was earlier (Cf. Case of the Las Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 24, 2009. Series C No. 211, para. 137; and Case of Rodríguez Vera et al. (The Disappeared from the Palace of Justice) v. Colombia, supra, para. 438). On the other hand, even if the forced disappearance ceases prior to the aforementioned ratification, the failure to investigate the forced disappearance violates the InterAmerican Convention on Forced Disappearance, to the detriment of the family of the person who had been forcibly disappeared (Cf. Case of Rodríguez Vera et al. (The Disappeared from the Palace of Justice) v. Colombia, supra, paras. 438 and 513). 36