258. Furthermore, no forensic medical examination was performed on one of the victims; also, there is no record that any measures were taken to determine whether one of the police agents identified as being involved in the incident, who was the son of the person in possession of the vehicle examined, was implicated in the facts. In addition, the case was dismissed owing to the prescription of the offense of minor injuries, without taking into account that other possible offenses had been committed, since the victims had complained that they had been deprived of their liberty arbitrarily, transferred to different places, beaten by several authorities, had shots fired near them, and had been threatened with death. Also, expert witness Vazquez indicated before the Court that, in cases such as this one, “the Public Prosecution Service, as leader of the investigation, is empowered to order the suspension of proceedings, which would have prevented the prescription of the criminal act […] and, consequently, would also have avoided impunity.” 259. The Court considers that the State organs in charge of the investigation of the complaint of torture, and illegal and arbitrary deprivation of liberty of the minors committed by police officials, the purpose of which was to determine the facts, identify those responsible, and their possible punishment, must perform their tasks diligently and thoroughly. The personal characteristics of the victims, who were minors at the time of the events, and the juridical rights investigated, called for the necessary measures to be taken to achieve this objective. Negligent or omissive actions of the State organs are incompatible with the obligations arising from the Convention. 260. Consequently, the Inter-American Court concludes that the authorities did not act with due diligence in investigating the deprivation of liberty, violence, threats and torture suffered by the minors Rigoberto Barrios and Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño. Therefore, the State violated the right to judicial guarantees and to judicial protection established in Articles 8(1) and 25(1) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1) thereof, and failed to comply with Articles 6 and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture in relation to the obligation to investigate the alleged acts of torture to the detriment of Rigoberto Barrios and Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño. 5. Investigation of the deprivation of liberty of Luisa del Carmen Barrios, Gustavo Ravelo, Jesús Ravelo, Elbira Barrios, Oscar José Barrios and Jorge Antonio Barrios Ortuño, and the threats and injuries they suffered 261. Initially a complaint was filed before the Fourteenth Prosecutor on June 28, 2004; despite this, the Twentieth Prosecutor also ordered the opening of the investigations on July 23, 2004, following a newspaper article about the incident. Although the latter ordered that certain measures be taken and asked the former, almost a year after the complaint, to advise whether he was taking measures with regard to the same facts, there is no record in the case file that the Fourteenth Prosecutor provided the collaboration requested by the Twentieth Prosecutor. 262. During this investigation, several measures were omitted that have been referred to previously (supra para. 234). Despite this, the Prosecutor ordered the dismissal of the case, even though there is no record that any steps had been taken to implement the pending procedures he had ordered. In this regard, expert witness Vázquez stated before the Court that the Public Prosecution Service is “obliged to have the result of each and every procedure ordered in order to be able to submit a conclusive decision.” In addition, there is no record that coercive measures or sanctions were adopted against the authorities who failed to collaborate in the preliminary investigation of the case. In this regard, in July 2004, the Prosecutor asked the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Police to open an administrative inquiry against the police agents; however, there is no record that this was done. 86

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