23 122. The Commission offered the testimony of Guatemalan citizens Israel Morales Chinchilla, Jorge Solares Zavala, Mario Méndez Ruiz, and Fernando A. López Santizo to prove that Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales did not leave Honduras, or to cast doubt upon the veracity of the certificates Guatemala issued concerning their entry into its territory. According to the Commission, those witnesses did not appear, either because they could not be found or because of personal reasons. 123. The Government, in turn, submitted documents and based its argument on the testimony of three members of the Honduran Armed Forces, two of whom were summoned by the Court because they had been identified in the proceedings as directly involved in the general practice referred to. This evidence may be summarized as follows: a. The testimony purports to explain the organization and functioning of the security forces accused of carrying out the specific acts and denies any knowledge of or personal involvement in the acts of the officers who testified; b. Some documents purport to show that no civil suit had been brought to establish a presumption of the death of Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales; c. Various certificates, to show that Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales entered Honduras and left for Guatemala on the following day through the customs post at El Florido, and, subsequently, left Guatemala through the Valle Nuevo border post for El Salvador; d. Other documents purport to prove that the Supreme Court of Honduras received and acted upon some writs of habeas corpus and that some of those writs resulted in the release of the persons on whose behalf they were brought. 124. At its request, the Court obtained: a) An expert opinion on the signature "Francisco Fairén G." found on the receipt for the entry of a vehicle into Guatemala, which the Commission submitted to the Court "in order to help to establish the facts" (supra 37); b) A certificate of the Government of El Salvador concerning the prerequisites in December, 1981, for a Costa Rican to enter El Salvador and stating whether Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales had entered that country in that time period (supra 43 and 44); c) A statement of October 2, 1987, of the Government of Guatemala, which reiterates that Francisco Fairén Garbi and Yolanda Solís Corrales entered Guatemala from Honduras on December 12, 1981, through the El Florido border post, and left for El Salvador on December 14, 1981, through the Valle Nuevo border post (supra 4. d)). VIII 125. Before weighing the evidence, the Court must address some questions regarding the burden of proof and the general criteria considered in its evaluation and finding of the facts in the instant proceeding.