4
due to the death of the fourth accused, “the Attorney General’s Office undertakes to further
on the investigation to establish the identity of those responsible for the events" and that
"proceedings remain open".
11.
That pursuant to the Judgment on the merits rendered by the Court, judicial
authorities “failed to comply with their obligation to promote an adequate investigation and
judicial proceedings”, the State held that “Guatemalan domestic legislation does not provide
for […] the concept of sham res judicata” and, therefore, “this would lead to legislative
amendments, which would result in longer time periods”.
12.
That the representatives expressed their “profound frustration in view of the report
presented by the State of Guatemala” and held that the judicial procedures mentioned by
the State are “the same procedures reported […] in the last written report which, moreover,
were appraised by this Court" that "served as basis for the State of Guatemala to be
declared responsible for the violation of Articles 8 and 25 of the Convention”. The
representatives added that “for that reason they [cannot] understand how the State […] can
claim […] that the investigation was not carried out in accordance with effective legislation,
completely disregarding the decisions made by the […] Court”.
13.
That the representatives also claimed that “proceedings remain open and no further
procedure was carried out after the passing of the Judgment on the merits and the
Judgment on reparations" and that "basically, the State has ignored what the Court ordered
for the purposes of justice”. In particular, the representatives held that “the Court found in
the Judgment that the Tribunals that had appraised the evidence failed to perform their
duties in an independent and impartial manner and, therefore, a new proceeding should be
initiated”. In this sense, the Court was requested to remind the State of “the need to initiate
a new investigation” and for the Court to express an opinion on what had already been
established in other Judgments "regarding the sham res judicata or apparent res judicata”,
which is based precisely on the "assumption of lack of impartiality [and] independence of
the authorities in charge of the investigations and prosecution of those responsible”.
14.
That the representatives concluded by making reference to the “circumstance” of “a
context where absolute impunity prevails in most of the paradigmatic cases heard by this
Court [involving Guatemala]”. Particularly, they indicated that “statistics […] reflect this
reality in a convincing manner, for instance, according to the information of the
International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, impunity reaches 98% in
reported crimes”, which, according to the representatives, constitutes “an endemic problem”
of the State. Furthermore, they stated that “the inefficacy of the justice system […] renders
even more urgent a decision by this Court regarding the status of compliance with these
Judgments” and that such ruling should be “emphatic upon indicating the need for the State
to adopt prompt and effective measures, not only to resume investigations in the instant
case, but also to correct structural problems that hinder progress in justice”.
15.
That the Commission stated that it “finds that no information was provided on the
measures adopted to resume [...], in a diligent manner, the investigations and to establish
the appropriate responsibility”. It added that “the matter under investigation does not refer
exclusively to the perpetrators of the murder”; the Court established in its Judgment “that
the investigators and agents of justice had not met their essential duties” and that in that
respect the Commission considers “that the measures required to fight impunity in the
instant case include [the implementation of] criminal, administrative or disciplinary
measures as required to assess and establish the responsibility of those who consolidated
impunity rather than finding justice”. The Commission concluded “that it is necessary to
reopen the entire proceeding; not against one person or several non-identified persons