negligence or inefficacy for the criminal investigation to release itself from responsibility for the violation of Article 4.1 of the Convention.278 196. The Court has also said that a failure to investigate alleged violations committed against a person when there are indications of the involvement of state agents “prevents the State from presenting a satisfactory and convincing explanation of the alleged [facts], and disproves the arguments concerning its responsibility, with adequate probative elements.”279 Similarly, the Court has ruled that failure to clear up an incident is a factor to be taken into account in establishing the alleged violation and the resulting international responsibility.280 197. In the instant case, the IACHR reiterates the indications of involvement of state agents congressmen Solomón Martínez and Juan Ramón Salgado, and Col. Aldo Aldana- in the murder of Carlos Mejía Escaleras. As indicated in the previous section, these indications are gathered in the evidence available to the Commission and that was collected in the criminal process: i) statements by relatives of Mr. Escaleras and residents of the area; ii) a statement of the only convicted perpetrator; iii) statements and reports of state officials from the DGIC; and iv) the alleged existence of a check which would have been paid to people who murdered the victim. In addition to the indications of participation by state agents in the killing, there are also indications of their involvement at later stages to conceal information about the people who masterminded the murder, such as the lack of declarations of those persons, the harassment of witnesses including one person’s death, and the unexplained dismissal of the ad hoc prosecutor. 198. The Commission also considers that beside the indications of involvement of state agents, it must be taken into account, as described in the section dealing with the rights to a fair trial and judicial protection, that the State failed to pursue the minimum formalities for exploring the logical lines of investigation on account of the omissions, obstacles, and irregularities that arose during the process. As a result, the judicial authorities failed to analyze with any seriousness the possible ties to Carlos Escaleras Mejía’s murder of at least three state officials. Given those omissions, the Commission believes that the State did not satisfy the burden of disproving the indications that state agents were implicated or involved. 199. In this case, the Commission believes that for the purposes of international responsibility, the indications of participation by state agents joined with the lack of a diligent investigation, allow it to conclude that the State has a direct international responsibility for the violation of Mr. Escaleras Mejía´s right to life, enshrined in Article 4.1 of the Convention, in conjunction with the obligations set out in Article 1.1 thereof. 3. Right to freedom of association and political rights (Articles 16 and 23 of the American Convention) 3.1. Right to freedom of association 200. Article 16 of the American Convention provides that “everyone has the right to associate freely for ideological, religious, political, economic, labor, social, cultural, sports, or other purposes.” 201. The Commission notes that this right has two dimensions: an individual dimension, and a social dimension. Regarding the individual dimension, the Inter-American Court has established that “those who are protected by the Convention […] have the right and freedom to associate freely with other persons, 278 I/A Court H. R., Case of Kawas Fernández v. Honduras, Merits, Reparations, and Costs, Judgment of April 3, 2009, Series C No. 196, para. 97. 279 I/A Court H. R., Case of J. v. Peru, Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations, and Costs, Judgment of November 27, 2013, Series C No. 275, para. 353. 280 I/A Court H. R., Case of J. v. Peru, Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations, and Costs, Judgment of November 27, 2013, Series C No. 275, para. 354. 38