75. On September 27, 1994 the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the cassation appeals submitted. According to information provided by the parties, on June 9 the alleged victims submitted an Amparo remedy before the Constitutional Court, against the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice. On November 7, 1995 the Constitutional Court dismissed the Amparo. 5. Clemency 76. On July 12, 1996 Pedro Castillo Mendoza and Roberto Girón submitted a request for pardon to the President of the Republic. They alleged that the different judicial bodies in the process against them omitted a deep analysis about the evidence produced in their trial and about the breaches of the law. They indicated that the convictions were more of a political nature than juridical, and they requested the commutation of their sentences to the maximum prison term. 50 77. On July 17, 1996 the President of the Republic denied clemency. He considered that “competes exclusively to the instituted courts to judge and implement the execution of the decision, which exercise must be respected by the other State powers, abiding by judicial decisions, especially if constitutional guarantees of due process have been observed and the right of the defense has been exercised.” 51 78. The petitioners submitted an application for Amparo against the decision of the President of the Republic before the Constitutional Court on July 20, 1996. 79. The Constitutional Court denied the Amparo requested on August 9, 1996. The Court stated Decree 159 of the Legislative Assembly was not in effect, nevertheless, the request for the commutation of the death penalty is an admissible remedy against the conviction that imposes the death penalty. The Court added that in the case under study, due process was observed. 52 6. Remedies to stay the execution of the death penalty 80. Subsequently, the judge of the criminal enforcement phase set a date for the execution of the death penalty.53 The alleged victims exhausted a series of remedies to stay the execution, which was stayed initially. However, on September 13, 1996 the death penalty of the alleged victims was carried out by firing squad. 81. According to public information, in the execution participated 20 guards of the Jail Farm Canada54 and was broadcasted nationally and, since Pedro Castillo didn’t die during the shooting from the firing squad, one of the members of the squad approached him to fatally shoot him. 55 50 Annex 12. Clemency request submitted by Pedro Castillo Mendoza and Roberto Girón before the President of the Republic on July 12, 1996. 51 Annex 13. Decision made by the President of the Republic denying the clemency request of July 17, 1996. 52 Annex 14. Decision from the Constitutional Court that denies the application for Amparo of August 9, 1996. File 1015-96. 53 Annex 15. Communication from the First Judge of Criminal Execution phase to the Director of the Granja Modelo de Rehabilitación Canadá (Canada Model Rehabilitation Farm), Escuintla. 54 Artículo de prensa publicado en El País, Fusilados dos campesinos que violaron y asesinaron a una niña guatemalteca, 14 de septiembre de 1996. 55 Amnesty International. The Return of the Death Penalty: Guatemala. March, 1997, p. 1; El País Newspaper, Fusilados dos campesinos que violaron y asesinaron a una niña guatemalteca (Shot by firing squad two peasants that raped and killed a Guatemalan girl,) September 4, 1996; AP Archive, Guatemala: two men executed by firing squad; Svendesen, Kristin, Gustavo Cetina. El corredor de la muerte. Condición carcelaria de los condenados a muerte en Guatemala (The death corridor. Prison conditions of those sentenced to death in Guatemala). Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales, p. 58. 13