- 45 - We are faced with a criminal act that extends over time; that continued, after the crime had been perpetrated, owing to the deflection of the investigation with the death or disappearance of the participants and the search for ways and means to avoid the action of justice. Consequently, all the probative material must be examined and assessed within the frameworks indicated by logic and the rules of experience of how those who form part of illegal organizations operate.179 122. In this case, three types of proceedings were conducted in relation to the execution of Senator Cepeda Vargas: a disciplinary procedure, two administrative proceedings, and a criminal investigation. These domestic proceeding are examined in the following chapters under Articles 8 y 25 of the Convention. In the case of the violation of Article 4 of the Convention, it is sufficient to say that the judicial authorities should have taken into account the characteristics of Senator Cepeda’s execution; inter alia, that it was carried out in a context of violence against the members of the UP and the PCC, particularly against their leaders, of constant threats, and of accusations against senior military officials and an alleged extermination plan. Despite the specific contribution of each of the proceedings analyzed, as a whole, the investigations have not been coordinated with each other, or sufficient to ensure due clarification of the facts that are the subject of this case. * * * 123. The Court finds that Senator Cepeda Vargas was ostensibly unprotected, in view of the situation of risk that he faced, owing to the general context of violence against the UP and the PCC, since he was a political leader and senator for these parties. In this context, State agents abstained from providing the special protection due to Senator Cepeda. 124. The Court finds that the State’s responsibility for violating the right to life of Senator Cepeda Vargas was engaged not only by the action of the two sergeants who have already been convicted for his execution, but also by the joint action of paramilitary groups and State agents, which constituted a complex crime that should have been handled as such by the authorities in charge of the investigations, who have been unable to establish the connections between the different authors of the crime or identify the masterminds. Based on the way the extrajudicial execution of Senator Cepeda Vargas was planned and carried out, it could not have been perpetrated without the knowledge or orders of senior commanders and leaders of these groups, because it responded to an organized action of these groups, within a general context of violence against the UP. 125. Consequently, the State agents not only failed decisively to comply with their obligations of prevention and of protection of the rights of Senator Cepeda Vargas, embodied in Article 1(1) of the American Convention, but also used their official functions and State resources to commit the violations. Instead of the institutions, mechanisms and powers of the State acting as a guarantee of prevention and of protection of the victim against the criminal acts of its agents, the power of the State was used as a means and resource to commit the violation of the rights that it should respect and guarantee,180 and this has been promoted by the impunity of these grave 179 Opinion of the office of the Attorney General of the Republic on the legality of the second instance ruling in relation to Investigation No. 18,428, supra note 101, folios 1812 and 1813. 180 Cf. Goiburú et al. v. Paraguay. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of September 22, 2006. Series C No. 153, para.66; Case of Perozo et al. v. Venezuela, supra note 49, para. 149, and La Cantuta v. Peru. Merits, reparations and costs. Judgment of November 29, 2006. Series C No. 162, para. 96.