34
request of the Public Prosecution Service, the time of death was amended and it was established that
“the person had been dead approximately 7 to 11 hours when the autopsy was carried out.146“
135. The autopsy report contains no photographs or videos, fails to say what clothes the
victim was wearing when the external examination was carried out at the morgue, and makes no
reference to the fact that the hands were protected with manila paper bags. 147 This fact was
documented in the medico-legal expert’s report submitted by the petitioners, based on a review of
several documents connected with the case file, including a video of the crime scene in which this fact
can be seen. It also stated that the external examination carried out found no evidence to suggest
where the alleged victim had died.148
136. Once they established that this was a murder case, the authorities should have
preserved specific pieces of evidence in the event rape was suspected, as dictated by the United Nations
Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions,
149
especially bearing in mind that the clothes were stained with blood, the brassiere and belt had been
removed, and the blouse was on inside-out.150 Although swabs were taken of the alleged victim’s
vaginal and anal cavities for analysis, no examination was ordered of the pubic region and no hairs were
taken from the clothes. Neither were the alleged victim’s breasts analyzed. In spite of the fact that all
the evidence indicated a rape, the autopsy report merely established that the genital organs were
“normal.” 151 Furthermore, the enlarged autopsy report stated that “the forensic gynecological
examination of the corpse found genitals normal for the age and that she was not a virgin.”152 The
analyses of the samples detected the presence of semen in the vaginal swabs.153
146
Appendix 21. Enlarged Autopsy Report 2604-2005 of June 7, 2006, issued by Mr. Sergio Alder Alfredo Martínez
Martínez, Judicial Medical Examiner, addressed to Carlos Antonio Miranda Arévalo, Assistant Prosecutor. Enclosed with the
original petition of December 10, 2007.
147
Appendix 33. Medico-legal expert’s report on the homicide of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz, issued on December
10, 2009. Document submitted by the petitioners with their communication of March 19, 2010.
148
Appendix 20. Enlarged Autopsy Report No. 617-05 of October 7, 2005, issued by Mr. Sergio Alder Alfredo Martínez
Martínez, Judicial Medical Examiner, addressed to Etz Sai Rodríguez Cho, Assistant Prosecutor. Copy of judicial record
presented by the petitioners on May 31, 2012.
149
The victim’s oral, vaginal and rectal fluids must be saved, as must all foreign and pubic hairs. United Nations,
Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, U.N. Doc.
E/ST/CSDHA/.12 (1991), paras. 29-30.
150
Appendix 34. Notice No. 828.09-. 2005 issued by Fire Department Official Oscar Rafael Sánchez Aguilar. Copy of
judicial record presented by the petitioners on May 31, 2012. Appendix 10, report of Public Prosecution Service criminalistic
investigations technicians Walter Adolfo Morales Rosales and Sergio Antonio Polanco Rivera, RAC 3,970-2005 of August 19,
2005. Copy of judicial record presented by the petitioners on May 31, 2012.
151
Appendix 18, Autopsy report of August 16, 2005, No. 2604-05, issued by Mr. Sergio Alder Alfredo Martínez
Martínez, Judicial Medical Examiner, addressed to Rocío Yesenia Reyna Pérez, Assistant Prosecutor. Copy of judicial record
presented by the petitioners on May 31, 2012.
152
Appendix 20. Enlarged Autopsy Report No. 617-05 of October 7, 2005, issued by Mr. Sergio Alder Alfredo Martínez
Martínez, Judicial Medical Examiner, addressed to Etz Sai Rodríguez Cho, Assistant Prosecutor. Copy of judicial record
presented by the petitioners on May 31, 2012.
153
Appendix 22. Opinion No. BIOL-05-1455 of September 26, 2005, issued by Ms. Ana Cecilia Díaz Ovalle de Mayorga
of the Public Prosecution Service, addressed to Alma Dinorah Moreno Escudero, Prosecution Unit No. 10. Copy of judicial
record presented by the petitioners on May 31, 2012.