44 He denied having been with Nery Ángel Urízar at the Santa Ana Berlín base or having taken him to identify Bámaca Velásquez. He did not see Bámaca Velásquez either detained or tortured, or any other person with his physical characteristics at the Santa Ana Berlín base or at San Marcos and only knew of his existence because of all the information that appeared in the newspapers. He denied having taken the decision to exploit the capture of Bámaca Velásquez for “military intelligence purposes”, by pretending that he was killed in combat and keeping him detained. He met Nery Ángel Urízar, Specialist from Military Zone No. 1316 in 1991. The same year, he met Cristóbal Che Pérez, former combatant of ORPA's Javier Tambriz Front, who gave himself up directly to the witness. In the case of those mentioned, later “the whole procedure [of presenting them to the competent authorities] was carried out”. Finally, Che Pérez decided to remain at the military installations and he was even given a position as a solider. He denied having ordered his death and then handing him over to the Magistrate as the corpse found in the Ixcucua River. He warned that the testimony of Urízar García could not be trusted, because he is a “criminal” and there are even orders of arrest against him. As a result of the disappearance of Bámaca Velásquez he made statements before the Public Ministry, in a court and at the Office of the Ombudsman. He was investigated and then the case against him was dismissed in a criminal proceeding arising from the Bámaca Velásquez Case, in about 1994. He also made a statement in the special pre-trial investigation procedure that tried to find the whereabouts of Bámaca Velásquez. During the period when the investigations were being carried out he was not separated from his functions in the Army. j. Testimony of Acisclo Valladares Molina, Guatemalan lawyer and notary, Attorney General and Head of the Public Ministry He carried out functions in the judicature, he was Head of the Public Ministry and Attorney General. He occupied the latter post for the period 1991-1993 and during the constitutional period from 1994-1998. During the first period, the Guatemalan Constitution attributed two principal functions to the post: to be the legal representative of the State and “to ensure strict compliance with the laws and to criminally prosecute crimes”. Furthermore, in Guatemala there existed the figure of public prosecution whereby any person could “prosecute any kind of crime, with the exception of private or semi-public crimes”, and the Public Ministry was “simply an auxiliary of the tribunals of justice”, while it was the judges who really headed investigations. In the ordinary course of his functions, he heard about the exhumation ordered by the Second Judge of Retalhuleu for May 20, 1992, which had been requested by the Ombudsman, Ramiro de León Carpio, in order to confirm the identity of a corpse buried as XX in March that year. He considered that “the matter might be important” and his interest “began by curiosity to know whether what was planned would accomplish [the] objectives or not”, and he never had the intention of “obstructing a procedure that might be viable.”