104 negligence obstructed and led to mistakes in the initial investigations of the murders, which caused additional suffering to the next of kin of the victims; (ii) The mistakes and omissions in compiling the case files also contributed to the delay in the investigations to find those responsible for the killings. This issue affected the next of kin, because they were uncertain about the conscientious, impartial and exhaustive nature of the investigations into the murders of the victims; (iii) The re-opening of the investigations into the murders was due, in part, to the need to identify the victims, because the next of kin had expressed a reasonable doubt about the identification analyses that had been performed, and it acknowledged “the suffering of the mothers […] when they had to identify the bodies of their daughters, which had suffered a significant degree of decomposition that made them almost unrecognizable”; (iv) The State is aware of the suffering caused to the victims’ next of kin by the fact that, to date, those responsible for murdering Mss. González, Herrera and Ramos, have not been identified, and (v) At the beginning of the investigations, the next of kin were not kept properly informed of the inquiries that the authorities were making and the measures they were taking to identify and locate those responsible. The State censured the insensitive attitude shown by the officials of the Office of the Attorney General for the state of Chihuahua toward the next of kin. It also censured the insensitivity of the authorities when returning the bodies of Mss. González, Herrera and Ramos, to their next of kin and regretted the statements made by public officials concerning the murders of Mss. González, Herrera and Ramos, which harmed the moral and mental integrity of their next of kin. 424. Based on the above, the Tribunal finds that the violation of the personal integrity of the victims’ next of kin stems from the circumstances suffered due to all the process that followed the disappearances of Esmeralda Herrera Monreal, Claudia Ivette González and Laura Berenice Ramos Monárrez, and also by the general context in which the facts occurred. The irregular and deficient actions of the state authorities when trying to discover the whereabouts of the victims after their disappearance had been reported; the lack of diligence in determining the identity of the remains, the circumstances and causes of the deaths; the delay in the return of the bodies; the absence of information on the evolution of the investigations, and the treatment accorded the next of kin during the whole process of seeking the truth has caused them great suffering and anguish. In the Court’s opinion, all the foregoing constitutes degrading treatment contrary to Article 5(1) and 5(2) of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1(1), to the detriment of Irma Monreal Jaime, Benigno Herrera Monreal, Adrián Herrera Monreal, Juan Antonio Herrera Monreal, Cecilia Herrera Monreal, Zulema Montijo Monreal, Erick Montijo Monreal, Juana Ballín Castro, Irma Josefina González Rodríguez, Mayela Banda González, Gema Iris González, Karla Arizbeth Hernández Banda, Jacqueline Hernández, Carlos Hernández Llamas, Benita Monárrez Salgado, Claudia Ivonne Ramos Monárrez, Daniel Ramos Monárrez, Ramón Antonio Aragón Monárrez, Claudia Dayana Bermúdez Ramos, Itzel Arely Bermúdez Ramos, Paola Alexandra Bermúdez Ramos and Atziri Geraldine Bermúdez Ramos. 6.2. Threats, intimidation and harassment suffered by the next of kin 425. The Commission alleged that “the mothers of Claudia Ivette, Esmeralda and Laura Berenice […] have been victims of continual harassment, mistreatment, and