41. On September 1, 1998, the OID National Investigations Directorate informed the Head of the OID about the investigations, interviews and procedures that had been conducted,48 mainly related to the alleged fabrication of information and documentation given to Lidia Bravo by lawyers who had provided her with advice in the context of the search for Mr. Palma Mendoza.49 Despite this, the report concluded that “no information had been obtained that would allow the whereabouts of Mr. […] Palma Mendoza to be determined, […] so that investigations would continue in order to [achieve this]. 42. On February 16, 2000, Lenin Ordoñez was arrested for alleged misappropriation of certain assets of the “PECIA” company owned by members of the Cevallos family. 50 Lenin Ordoñez stated that, of his own free will, he wished to make a statement concerning facts related to the abduction and death of Mr. Palma Mendoza,51 and of another person. He indicated that, in May 1997, Medardo Cevallos asked him to investigate a robbery that had taken place on the premises of “Manabi Motors”; he did this with Freddy Simón Contreras Luna (hereinafter also “Freddy Contreras”), Stanley Vicente Domínguez Avilés (hereinafter also “Vicente Domínguez”) and Jhonny Menéndez. According to the statement made by Lenin Ordoñez, after identifying Mr. Palma Mendoza as one of the individuals involved in the robbery, they captured him as previously described (supra para. 29), together with another individual (known as “el Flaco,” who was Jorge Jhon Mero Parrales), informing Medardo Cevallos and Ramón Bravo Mera of the fact. He indicated that, on the latter’s orders, they took the individuals they had abducted to Palestina and then to Puerto Inca and to “a place called Olmedo.” With regard to Mr. Palma, he added that “he was given nothing to eat for five days and merely kept alive with water,” and also that “they chained his feet and hands and strangled him.” He explained that, after leaving Freddy Contreras with Mr. Palma Mendoza and “el Flaco,” he and Vicente Domínguez left for Guayaquil, while Jhonny Menéndez returned to Manta and that, when they were nearing their destination, Medardo Cevallos ordered them to go back. He stated that when they did so, they noted that the individuals they had captured had been killed, and then they threw the bodies into the Cañar 48 Cf. Report No. 98-190-OID-MM of September 1, 1998, of the National Investigations Directorate of the Manta OID, signed by investigator Lino Caicedo Bonifacio, addressed to the Head of the Manta OID (file of appendices to the Admissibility and Merits Report, appendix 20, folios 81 to 85). Without indicating the dates on which the respective measures were taken, the report describes the following actions: reception of the statements of Lidia Bravo and Blanca Filadelfia Zambrano Zambrano, of the lawyers Ronald Ecuador Briones Cobos and Ignacio Buenaventura Reyes Cardenas, and of Héctor Moreira Víncens, Pablo Antonio Pico and Carlos Alberto Palma Mendoza. Regarding the latter three, the report mentions that “[their] statements are attached”, but the attached documents were not received by the Court. 49 Cf. Report No. 98-190-OID-MM of the National Investigations Directorate of the Manta OID of September 1, 1998, folios 81 to 85. In this regard, the report indicates, inter alia, that Lidia Bravo stated that, following her husband’s deprivation of liberty, she sought assistance, first, from the lawyer Ronald Ecuador Briones Cobos, who put her in contact with the lawyer Ignacio Buenaventura Reyes Cárdenas. According to Lidia Bravo’s statement recorded in the report, the lawyer Ignacio Buenaventura Reyes Cárdenas told her that Mr. Palma Mendoza was being detained in Guayaquil. Then, according to Lidia Bravo’s statement recorded in the report, she also contacted the lawyer Isabel Montaño, who went with the lawyer Reyes to the “Huancavilca Fort” and, subsequently, told her that they had seen Mr. Palma Mendoza there. Lidia Bravo also declared that the lawyer Reyes gave her a letter supposedly signed by Mr. Palma Mendoza. Mrs. Bravo also indicated that, in the context of the said actions, on different occasions she gave the lawyers money they had asked for so that they could give it to members of “military intelligence.” According to the report, the result of the respective expert analysis was that “the signature that appears in the letter delivered by the [lawyer] Reyes Cárdenas to Lidia Bravo does not correspond to that of the now disappeared Marco Palma Mendoza.” 50 Cf. Police Report No. 2000-116-PJ-M of February 21, 2000, signed by Investigating Agent Aladino Zambrano Acosta, addressed to the Chief of the Judicial Police of Manta (file of attachments to the pleadings and motions brief, attachment 16, folios 1478 to 1483). 51 Cf. Police Report No. 2000-128-PJ-M-COMPL. of February 22, 2000, signed by Investigating Agent Aladino Zambrano Acosta, addressed to Chief of the Judicial Police of Manta (file of attachments to the answering brief, attachment 4, folios 1869 to 1879). 14