8 Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director, CEJIL Soraya Long Saborío, lawyer, CEJIL, and Leonardo Crippa, lawyer, CEJIL; for the State of Guatemala: Herbert Estuardo Meneses Coronado, agent Luis Ernesto Cáceres Rodríguez, deputy agent Frank La Rue, President of COPREDEH; witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission and endorsed by the representatives: Martha Arrivillaga de Carpio Karen Fischer, and Abraham Méndez García; witnesses proposed by the representatives: Jorge Carpio Arrivillaga, and Silvia Esther Arrivillaga Orantes; Expert witness proposed by the representatives: Marco Antonio Sagastume Gemmell. 38. During the first public hearing and in a brief presented on July 5, 2004, the State declared that it acknowledged its responsibility, as follows: 1. Since it did not answer the application filed by the Commission or present comments on the petitioners’ brief at the procedural opportunity […], it would appreciate the Court providing it with the opportunity to express the position of the actual Government in the instant case, and the new human rights policy that it is promoting. In this regard, on the instructions of the Constitutional President of the Republic, Oscar Berger Perdomo, [the agent] manifest[ed] the acknowledgement of the State’s international responsibility for the human rights violations committed as of July 3, 1993, to the detriment of Jorge Carpio Nicolle, Juan Vicente Villacorta, Alejandro Ávila Guzmán, Rigoberto Rivas González, Sydney Shaw Díaz, Martha Arrivillaga de Carpio, Mario Arturo López Arrivillaga, Sydney Shaw Arrivillaga, Ricardo San Pedro Suárez and the next of kin of the victims, based on the provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights. 2. Based on the above, the State acknowledge[d] its international responsibility for the violation of Article 4(1) of the American Convention, because it had not ensured the right to life of Jorge Carpio Nicolle, Juan Vicente Villacorta, Alejandro Ávila Guzmán and Rigoberto Rivas. 3. It acknowledge[d] its international responsibility for the violation of Article 5 of the American Convention, because it had not guaranteed the right to humane treatment of Sydney Shaw Díaz, and the right to mental integrity of the next of kin of the victims. 4. It acknowledge[d] its international responsibility for the violation of Article 19 of the American Convention, because it had not provided special measures of protection for the child, Sydney Shaw Díaz, in relation to the provisions of Article 1[1] thereof. 5. It acknowledge[d] its international responsibility for the violation of Articles 8(1) and 25 of the American Convention, because it had not provided the right to a fair trial and effective judicial protection, and had also failed to comply with the general obligation to respect rights, established in Article 1[1] thereof, owing to the existing impunity with regard to the murder of Jorge Carpio Nicolle, Juan Vicente Villacorta, Alejandro Ávila Guzmán and Rigoberto Rivas, and the injuries caused to Sydney Shaw Díaz.