27. The Commission is competent ratione materiae since the petition refers to alleged violations of human rights protected by the American Convention. In addition, the Commission is competent ratione temporis insofar as the obligation to respect and guarantee the rights protected in the American Convention was already in force for the State on the date on which the facts alleged in the petition would have taken place. Finally, the Commission is competent ratione loci to take cognizance of the petition, insofar as it alleges violations of rights protected in the American Convention, which, if true, took place in the territory of a State party to the Convention. B. 1. Admissibility requirements of the petition Exhaustion of domestic remedies 28. After the murder of Mr. Carvajal Carvajal, a judicial proceeding began that culminated, in the first instance, in the acquittal of the accused, handed down by the Single Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit of Neiva, Huila, on December 15, 2000. The judgment of acquittal was later affirmed by the Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court for the Judicial District of Neiva, Huila, on April 6, 2001. In the instant case, the Colombian State notes that domestic remedies were exhausted on April 6, 2001, when the judgment of acquittal of criminal liability of the accused, for the murder, was affirmed. 29. The IACHR notes that in the judgment of acquittal of December 15, 2000, the Single Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit of Neiva, Huila, ruled as follows: Finally, it will be ordered that a photocopy, with two copies, of the entire record in this proceeding be issued and forwarded to the office of assignments of the prosecutorial units (Fiscalías Delegadas) before this Court, to continue investigating the perpetrators and participants in the murder of Nelson Carvajal Carvajal.2 Nonetheless, it does not appear from the information provided by the parties that any judicial investigation has been opened or continued. 30. The Commission, through its case-law, has been noting that in cases such as this, the adequate remedy to be exhausted, as made 2 Judgment of the Single Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit in Neiva, Huila, of December 15, 2000, at page 41. 7