5 24. They also referred to the failure to establish the time of death, the position of the victim when the shot was fired, the distance from the gunshot, the corpse’s movement from its original position, and the lack of detail regarding the wounds on the victim’s body. Furthermore, not all of the alleged victim’s clothes were kept, nor was a pubic combing ordered, despite strong evidence of a possible rape. Evidence was also contaminated as a result of the fact that when the body was turned over unstained garments became contaminated with blood. Potential witnesses were not interviewed and a number of statements were taken months and in some cases almost a year after the events occurred. The petitioners said that twice when the medical examiner at the crime scene got blood on his forearm he wiped it off with the alleged victim’s sweater. He did the same to clean the hair at the the back of the alleged victim’s head in order to better see the exit wound in the right occipital region, which also caused contamination. 25. The petitioners also pointed to irregularities in the autopsy, especially the lack of identification of the corpse, despite the fact that it had already been identified and taken away by the mother. In addition, no description was offered of signs of sexual violence in the genital region, no mention was made of the possible existence of evidence of sexual violence, and there was no record of the abrasions on the alleged victim’s face. The results of the gynecological tests were not provided, neither were examinations done of her mouth and anus, or of her breasts, abdomen or inner thighs. Nor were tests done to screen for pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. 26. The petitioners said that the Human Rights Ombudsman drew attention to these shortcomings in a report on the case released in July 2006. The Ombudsman determined in the report that the alleged victim and her next of kin had had a series of their human rights violated. In his conclusions, the Ombudsman recommended a variety of measures for improving criminal investigations. 27. They held that the absence of programs for reporting disappearances or abductions of women and taking immediate action thereon, plus the fact that the police twice refused to receive a missing persons report is a clear violation of prevention-of-violence obligations, amounting to a violation of the alleged victim’s right to life. In addition, the authorities violated the alleged victim’s right to have the integrity of her person respected by their failure to immediately accept her reported disappearance and by failing to respond to a 110 call that they received regarding a possible rape being committed two blocks from where the body of Claudina Isabel Velázquez was later found. 28. The petitioners also claimed a violation of the alleged victim’s right to privacy through the failure to prevent the commission of a brutal act against the free exercise of her autonomy, liberty, and sexual privacy. They also held that the sexual violation committed against her impaired her personal autonomy. They also claimed a failure to respect the alleged victim’s right to honor and dignity as a result of the absence of a proper investigation of the facts, as well as by the visit to the funeral home to take her fingerprints, causing greater suffering to the family. With that attitude, the prosecutors displayed profound disdain for the victim’s dignity and the family’s grief. In addition, in the course of the investigation, the family had to suffer disparaging remarks against the dignity of the alleged victim. At the beginning of the investigation the authorities told them that the profile of the alleged victim had been confused with that of a female gang member or a prostitute and, therefore, according to the authorities, a person whose death was not worthy of investigation. 29. With regard to the right to equality before the law, they say that in the eyes of prosecutors and the police, women who are murdered in Guatemala are automatically assumed to be prostitutes or gang members before any investigation commences. As a result of the gender stereotype