24 released without prejudice to the continuation of the proceedings. His release may be subject to guarantees to assure his appearance for trial. […] 92. provides: In turn, Article I.a of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons Article I The States Parties to this Convention undertake: a. Not to practice, permit, or tolerate the forced disappearance of persons, even in states of emergency or suspension of individual guarantees. 93. Before examining the possible responsibility of the Peruvian State under the provisions transcribed above, the Commission must rule on the legal nature of the facts established in the case at hand. For this, it will take into account the definition set out in Article II of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons (hereinafter “the IACFDP”). According to that instrument, [F]orced disappearance is considered to be the act of depriving a person or persons of his or their freedom, in whatever way, perpetrated by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of the state, followed by an absence of information or a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the whereabouts of that person, thereby impeding his or her recourse to the applicable legal remedies and procedural guarantees. 94. The Commission has established that Jeremías Osorio Rivera was detained by elements of the Peruvian Army on April 28, 1991, and was held incommunicado in a military camp in the community center of Nunumia, Gorgor district, Cajatambo province, Lima department, until April 30, 1991. It has been shown that on that date, the victim’s next-of-kin and several residents of Cochas-Paca saw him for the last time. In addition, the IACHR has found that since June 1, 1991, the soldiers responsible for Jeremías Osorio’s arrest presented false information on his whereabouts and that prior to that date, they had refused to report on the victim’s situation. Consequently, and based on the analysis offered in this chapter, the Commission believes that the above elements are sufficient to conclude that what happened to Mr. Jeremías Osorio Rivera must be defined as a forced disappearance, pursuant to the terms of Article II of the IACFDP. 95. According to the constant jurisprudence of the inter-American system, forced disappearance constitutes an unlawful act that gives rise to a multiple and continuing violation of a number of rights protected by the Convention and leaves the victim in a state of complete defenselessness, opening up the way for other related crimes. The international responsibility of the State is heightened when the disappearance is a part of a systematic pattern or practice followed or tolerated by its authorities. It is, briefly stated, a crime against humanity that implies the gross abandonment of the 114 essential principles on which the inter-American system is based. 96. The characteristics that define a disappearance include the means through which it is carried out to conceal all evidence of the facts, of the corresponding responsibility, and of the victim’s fate. Another characteristic is the way in which the failure to clear up the incident and to assign 115 responsibilities affects not only the direct victim, but also his or her family and society in general. 97. When a state ratifies the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons, under Article I.a it agrees “not to practice, permit, or tolerate the forced disappearance of 114 Annex 8: IACHR, Report No. 101/01, Case 10.247 and others, Extrajudicial Executions and Forced Disappearances, Peru, October 11, 2001, para. 178, available at www.cidh.oas.org/annualrep/2001sp/Peru10247.htm. 115 IACHR, Application to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Narciso González Medina and others v. the Dominican Republic, Case 11.324, May 2, 2010, paras. 106 and 107; and Application to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of Gregoria Herminia Contreras and others v. the Republic of El Salvador, Cases 12.494, 12.517, and 12.518, June 28, 2010, paras. 134 and 135. Documents available at www.cidh.oas.org/demandas/demandasESP2010.htm.