46. Specifically, in the case of Veliz Franco et al., the Court noted that, according to the Guatemalan Judiciary, “official figures” revealed that there had been a “sustainable increase in violent deaths of women at the national level from 2001 to 2011.” Also, the same document stated that, “according to a report,” in 2012, “Guatemala occupied third place at the global level for violent deaths of women, with a rate of 9.7 femicides per 100,000 inhabitants.”28 Similarly, according to data from the National Institute for Statistics collected by the Monitoring Mechanism for the Convention of Belém do Pará (MESECVI), the number of murders of women in the country evolved as follows: 1995: 150; 1996: 163; 1997: 249; 1998: 190; 1999: 179; 2000: 213; 2001: 215; 2002: 266; 2003: 282, and 2004: 286. In addition, the Inter-American Commission asserted that State sources had confirmed that “from 2001 to 2004, 1,188 women were murdered, [and that] different sources confirm that […] the level of violence and brutality used on the bodies of the victims increased.”29 The evidence presented in this case is consistent with the increase in the number of murders of women in the country because, according to the Public Prosecution Service’s statistical data provided by the State, the evolution is as follows: 2005: 920; 2006: 1035; 2007:1036; 2008: 1029; 2009; 981; 2010: 943; 2011: 704; 2012: 860; 2013: 784; 2014: 769, and up until April 2015: 249.30 47. That said, over and above the increase in the number of killings of women, in the case of Veliz Franco et al., the Court received different information as regards the percentage of murders of women compared to those of men, and regarding the growth of this proportion. On the one hand, it was informed that, from 2001 to 2006, almost 10% of murders were committed against women. This percentage is similar if the period from 1986 to 2008 is considered, or the period from 2002 to 2012. It was over 10%, at least, in 2003 and 2004, years in which it had been more than 11% and 12%, respectively. Moreover, information also exists that, from 1995 to 2004, the increase in the growth rate of the killing of women was almost double that of the killing of men and that, in 2004 “the number of violent deaths of women had increased by 20% more than the number of violent deaths of men.”31 48. Furthermore, in this case, the evidence is consistent as regards the exacerbation of the degree of violence against the women and the brutality used against the bodies of many of the victims. It also reveals that the murders of women in Guatemala occurred in a context of different forms of violence against them, such as violence within the family, and domestic violence, rape and violation, harassment, exploitation and others forms of sexual violence. 32 Guatemala, June 24, 2013, para. 13. Available at: http://docstore.ohchr.org/SelfServices/Files Handler.ashx?enc=6QkG1d%2FPPRiCAqhKb7yhsiqfk8caYZRrn8MoNjn4orHkCGqxO6Nu%2FXAFc4v8YxseJsuRAp9DK4NbY NjwWByJiwtUJ7gGgcNMsEqzDozUWk9ryKPF6m2PO72hWIelmE%2F9, and Expert opinion provided by Karen Musalo by affidavit dated April 13, 2015 (evidence file, folio 6660). 28 Cf. Case of Veliz Franco et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 75. 29 Cf. Case of Veliz Franco et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 76. 30 Cf. Statistical table on the overall number of murders from 2005 to April 2015 of the Department for Strategic Analysis of Crime, Crime Analysis Department, Public Prosecution Service (evidence file, folio 6841). 31 Cf. Case of Veliz Franco et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 77. 32 In the case of Veliz Franco et al., the Court stated that it had been indicated that a characteristic of many of the cases of women victims of murder was the “brutality of the violence used,” the presence of “signs of sexual violence” on the corpses or “their mutilation.” Cf. Case of Veliz Franco et al. v. Guatemala, supra, para. 78. Citing, Amnesty International, “Guatemala. No protection no justice: Killings of women in Guatemala,” June 2005, p. 8; Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston. Mission to Guatemala, UN Doc. A/HRC/4/20/Add.2, February 19, 2007, paras. 22 and 26, and Guatemalan Ombudsman, Compendium “Muertes Violentas de Mujeres 2003 a 2005,” p. 22. Expert witness Paloma Soria Montañez explained that in the “context of the justification and normalization of violence, we see that, in Guatemala, the figures for domestic violence, sexual violence, and violent deaths of women are very high. In this regard, the murders are committed with increasingly extreme violence and are generally accompanied by other types of injuries that reveal the misogyny with which they are perpetrated: sexual violence, mutilations, dismemberment, decapitation and injuries.” The expert witness observed that, at the present time, there is a situation of structural violence against women in Guatemala. Cf. Expert opinion of Paloma Soria Montañez provided by affidavit on April 16, 2015 (evidence file, folios 6764 and 6765). Expert witness Karen 17