67. The death penalty in Guatemala was applied only occasionally until the 1990s. However, as of 1996,33 the State reapplied it first by firing squad, in accordance with Decree No. 234 of the Congress of the Republic,34 and then through lethal injection, after Decree No. 234 was repealed by Decree No. 100-96 of November 1996, by which this new method of execution was established.35 68. Decree No. 159 of April 19, 1892, of the National Legislative Assembly considered granting pardon or commuting the sentence and regulated the procedure to put them into effect. On June 1, 2000, the aforementioned Decree No. 159 was repealed by the Guatemalan Congress through Legislative Decree No. 32/2000. A.2. Legislation in force in Guatemala regarding torture at the time of the events 69. Article 201 bis of the Penal Code defines the crime of torture, in the terms already indicated (supra para. 28). B. Situation of Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila and the criminal proceedings that culminated in the death sentence 70. Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila, also known as Víctor Manuel Vásquez González, Pablo Sandoval Ramírez, Jorge Armando Fuentes or as Jorge “el Flaco”, as he appears in different judicial records,36 lived in the city of San Marcos, Guatemala. For purposes of this judgment, the Court will refer to Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila. B.1. Detention and Search 71. Regarding the detention of Mr. Valenzuela, there is dispute as to the place, manner and time of his detention. According to Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila’s version, on May 27, 1998, he arrived at his home and was intercepted by some men, who beat him in various places, and put him into a vehicle and drove off. He also indicated that when the car in which he was being transported stopped, they got out and began to interrogate him, once again being beaten and suffocated. He also mentioned that one of the people holding him received a phone call and they put him back in the car37 to take him back to his home. He specified that there were police vehicles at his house, and when they entered the house there were some police officers and other people in civilian clothes, as well as a prosecutor and the Second Justice of the Peace.38 Amnesty International, Guatemala, The Return of the Death Penalty. March 1997, p. 3; IACHR, Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OEA/Ser.L/V/11.63 doc.10, September 28, 1984, Guatemala, para. 9. 34 Decree of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala of May 21, 1946. 35 Law that establishes the procedure for the execution of the death penalty. Decree of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala No. 100-96. “Article 7. After reading the resolutions referred to in the previous article, the death penalty will be carried out by means of the lethal injection procedure described below […]”. 36 As indicated in the Judgment of the Sentencing Court of the Department of Quetzaltenango of October 21, 1999 (file of annexes to the Merits Report, annex 15, fs. 258 to 395), and official letter of May 11, 1999, of the Second Judge of the Court of First Instance for Criminal Justice, Drug-Trafficking and Environmental Crime (file of proceedings before the Commission, annex 1, f. 843). 37 Cf. Trial Record 38-99 of October 11, 1999, containing the statement of Tirso Román Valenzuela Ávila (file of annexes to the Merits Report, annex 1, pages 5 to 113), and psychological expert opinion rendered by Juan Cristóbal Aldana Alfaro (file of annexes to the Merits Report, annex 12, fs. 191 to 208). 38 Cf. Record of Trial 38-99 of October 11, 1999, supra; psychological expert opinion rendered by Juan Cristóbal Aldana Alfaro, supra, and report of Doctor Edna Karina Vaquerano Martínez of June 15, 2005 (file of annexes to the Merits Report, annex 11, fs. 183 to 189). 33 19