this incident stated that they fired at least 10 times to “protect [their] physical integrity and repel” Narciso Barrios and Nestor Caudi Barrios.74 Furthermore, three people also stated that Narciso Barrios was armed at the time of the incident.75 The prosecutor responsible for the investigation charged the three Aragua state police agents with the crime of “complicity to commit aggravated murder” and indicated that the accused “engaged in criminal conduct [by using a] weapon against an unarmed individual, thereby altering the circumstances of the incident and giving rise to the responsibility of the perpetrators, who were present at the scene of the crime at all times, which corroborated their intent, guilt and criminal responsibility.”76 iii. Considerations of the Court 64. Based on the available evidence and the State’s declarations at the public hearing that “there was complicity between the officials of the Aragua State Police and simulation of a confrontation with the police,” the Court finds that there is no dispute about the fact that Benito Antonio Barrios and Narciso Barrios were deprived of their life by State agents, and that the former was detained by Aragua State police officials prior to his death. 65. In the case of Benito Antonio Barrios, from the evidence provided by the parties, and taking into consideration the State’s assertion that a confrontation was simulated, the Court considers that his arrest was not carried out in flagrante delicto and was not the result of a court order. Consequently, the Court concludes that Benito Antonio Barrios was arrested illegally by members of the Aragua Police, who deprived him of his life shortly afterwards. Thus, it is not necessary to determine whether the victim was taken promptly before the competent judicial authority or whether he was informed of the reason for his arrest. The arrest of Benito Antonio Barrios evidently constituted an illegal act; it was not ordered by a competent authority and its purpose was not to bring him before to judge or other official authorized by law, so that it is unnecessary for the Court to rule on the alleged arbitrary nature of the measure. 66. In addition, Néstor Castellano Morelos, a witness before the Court proposed by the State, declared that he was “certain, as a party […] in good faith to, and responsible for […] the criminal prosecution, [that] it was the police officials who acted with excess when executing a police operation.” Moreover, those who witnessed the incident indicated that the police agents entered the home of Benito Antonio Barrios, beat him in front of his children, and took him away, handcuffed and injured, in a police car (supra para. 62). In addition, the forensic examination determined that he was shot from above, indicating the victim’s position of helplessness, which does not support the version of a confrontation reported by the police officials involved. In addition to having been assaulted by the police agents, it can 74 Cf. Record of interview with Marcos Antonio Moreno Dorta by the Twentieth Prosecutor of Aragua state on November 26, 2004 (file of attachments to the answering brief, tome III, attachment 17, folios 6052 a 6056); Record of interview with Leomar José Rovira Mendoza by the Twentieth Prosecutor of Aragua state on November 26, 2004 (file of attachments to the answering brief, tome III, attachment 17, folios 6057 to 6059); Record of interview with José Luis Riasco León by the Twentieth Prosecutor of Aragua state on November 26, 2004 (file of attachments to the answering brief, tome III, attachment 17, folios 6060 to 6062). 75 Cf. Record of interview with Walter Rafael Pacheco Urrutia at the Barbacoas Police Station on December 12, 2003 (file of attachments to the answering brief, tome III, attachment 17, folio 5951); Record of interview with Antonio Maria Macallo Martínez at the Barbacoas Police Station on December 12, 2003 (file of attachments to the answering brief, tome III, attachment 17, folios 5953 and 5955), and Record of interview with Yonis Mauricio Villegas Aparicio at the Barbacoas Police Station on December 12, 2003 (file of attachments to the answering brief, tome III, attachment 17, folio 5958). 76 Cf. Criminal indictment brief of March 6, 2005, supra note 73, folios 5848 and 5850. 26