31
wounds are compatible with those produced by a long metal instrument that is sharp
on one of its sides, which acts through its weight and edge (machete) […].”29
79(34) The bullets extracted from the bodies of Marco Antonio Servellón García, Rony
Alexis Betancourth Vásquez, and Diomedes Obed García Sánchez were shot by the
same fire weapon. The caliber of the bullet found in Orlando Álvarez Ríos’ body could
not be determined due to its deformation. The Human Rights inspector subordinated
to the Office of Criminal Investigation expressed that its hypothesis was that the four
deaths were related, reason for which he decided to investigate them in a joint
manner.
79(35) In the murders of Marco Antonio Servellón García, Rony Alexis Betancourth
Vásquez, Orlando Álvarez Ríos, and Diomedes Obed García Sánchez a common
modus operandi was used, and they occurred within in the context of extrajudicial
killings of children and youngsters in risky situations that existed at the time of the
facts in Honduras (supra paras. 79(1), 79(2), and 79(3)).
H)
Regarding the police investigations and the criminal proceedings initiated as a
result of the deaths of Marco Antonio Servellón García, Rony Alexis Betancourth
Vásquez, Orlando Álvarez Ríos, and Diomedes Obed García Sánchez
79(36) After September 18, 1995 the Main Prosecutor of the Human Rights Public
Prosecutors’ Office received from the Human Rights Inspector of the Office of
Criminal Investigation, a report on the claim made by Mrs. Marja Ibeth Castro García
for the illegal arrest of her brother Marco Antonio Servellón García and the
investigations that had been carried out by the Human Rights Public Prosecutor’s
Office as a result of said claim.30
79(37) On October 5, 1995 the First Assistant of the National Human Rights
Commission forwarded to the Special Human Rights Prosecutor the claim presented
by Dilcia Álvarez Ríos, in which she argued that her brother Orlando Álvarez Ríos had
been found dead with two bullet shots to the head. The First Assistant of the National
Human Rights Commission requested that the corresponding investigations regarding
the case be carried out.31
79(38) On March 5, 1996 Mr. Manases Betancourth Núñez, father of the minor Rony
Alexis Betancourth Vásquez, presented a criminal accusation “for the crimes of Abuse
of Authority and Violation of the Duties of Officials, Illegal Arrest, and Murder against
Messrs. Lieutenant Colonel David Abraham Mendoza Regional Commander of the
FUSEP, the Captains [Miguel Ángel] Villatoro [Aguilar], [Egberto] Arias [Aguilar],
[Rodolfo] Pagoada [Medina], [Juan Ramón] Ávila [Meza], the Effective Lieutenants
Marco Tulio Regalado [Hernández], [José Francisco] Valencia [Velásquez], [Edilberto]
29
Cfr. expansion of the legal medical report of the specialist in Legal Medicine and Forensic
Pathology of the Public Prosecutors’ Office of December 8, 1995 (dossier of appendixes to the petition,
appendix 4, volume 1, folios 927 and 928).
30
Cfr. report of the Human Rights Inspector of the Office of Criminal Investigation, Nery Suyapa
Osorio, addressed to the Main Prosecutor of the Human Rights Public Prosecutors’ Office, Sonia Marlina
Durbor de Flores, on September 17, 1995 (dossier of appendixes to the petition, appendix 4, volume I,
folio 987 through 990).
31
Cfr. official letter of the First Assistant of the National Human Rights Commission, Irma Esperanza
Pineda Santos, addressed to the Special Human Rights Public Prosecutor, Sonia Marlina Dubor de Flores,
of October 5, 1995 (dossier of appendixes to the petition, appendix 4, volume I, folio 952).