3
ii) on January 6, 2010, an inquiry was opened before the Attorney General
of the Republic for the crime of “abuse of authority”; however, on
February 20, 2010, the mentioned Attorney General declined its
competence based on jurisdiction and it forwarded the preliminary
inquiry to the Military Public Prosecutors’ Office;
e)
On March 4, 2010, the Commission requested the State to adopt
precautionary measures to protect the life and right to humane treatment of
Rocío, Nitza, and José; and it required the State to report on their whereabouts,
their state of health, and their safety, as well as the actions adopted in order to
investigate the facts that led to the adoption of the measures.
f)
on March 18, 2010, Mexico presented its report, in which it stated that
the three bodies in charge of the prosecution of the crimes, which “brought
together information in their corresponding inquiries,” are:
i) Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua: several diligences have
been carried out to recollect testimonies;
ii) Attorney General of the Republic: an agent of the Public Prosecutors’
Office carried out interviews with staff from the 35th Infantry Battalion
and the ministerial police of Chihuahua, who expressed the “nonexistence of information on the people reported as disappeared;” and
the Specialized Prosecutors’ Office for Crimes of Violence against Women
and Human Trafficking (hereinafter “FEVIMTRA”) opened a preliminary
inquiry; and
iii) Attorney General of Military Justice: does not have a background on the
participation of military personnel; however, preliminary inquiries were
started.
Likewise, it informed that the National Human Rights Commission
(hereinafter “NHRC”) submitted a complaint file. The NHRC requested reports
from the involved authorities; and personnel from that commission made itself
present at the Benito Juárez cooperative to interview the person who filed the
complaint and the witnesses, and it inspected the inside of the installations of
the 35th Infantry Battalion in an unsuccessful search for the whereabouts of
Rocío, Nitza, and José.
g)
on April 20, 2010, the representatives forwarded their corresponding
observations to the state’s report, highlighting the following:
i)
Attorney General of the State of Chihuahua: despite the evidence,
testimonies, and information provided by the next of kin regarding the
participation of army officials in the facts, diligences were not carried out
to establish said participation, and the case was submitted to the Unit of
Absent and Lost People, which does not investigate criminal facts but
offers a type of social service to the next of kin. They also stated that it
took until March 3, 2010, for them to request information from the
communications company regarding the telephone line from which Nitza
had made a phone call on February 3, 2010, and that the location of the
telephone or the name of the owner of the line from which the call was
made is still unknown;
ii) Attorney General of the Republic: the State had provided contradicting
information, since through an official letter of February 20, 2010, said
Attorney General’s office declared itself unfit and forwarded the case to
military justice. Regarding the inquiry before the FEVIMTRA, they stated
that the content of the case dossier is that of the complaint filed by the
next of kin, press releases, and urgent actions prepared by the same