45 He went in a military airplane to observe this exhumation, which was one of the 10 or 12 that he observed that year; he selected them at random, in order to instill confidence in the various national prosecutors. When he reached the cemetery, he questioned the judge as to the usefulness of the procedure to identify a buried person and, as none of those present “said anything in reply”, he suggested “that the procedure [should be] conducted when the necessary elements [were at hand] in order to achieve the desired success”. He did not cancel the exhumation, because this was outside of his functions, but he suggested to the judge that the procedure would be useless. It was the judge who took the final decision. He denied having argued with the Retalhuleu judge and pressured him to cancel the procedure. He did not allege as the reason for canceling the exhumation the fact that no member of the URNG was present to identify the corpse, or that foreigners were presented. He never thought that the exhumation would be delayed for “an unusual amount of time.” About 20 persons were present for the procedure, including the judge, the prosecutor, Edwin Domínguez, four or five foreigners and some armed police. He did not know that, prior to his arrival, the police had informed those present that members of the Army would be coming to supervise the procedure and, after his arrival, no Army personnel arrived. He learned through the press that, with his arrival, some of those present “felt intimidated”, but he did not observe “anything threatening.” He was unaware of the existence of a US agency document, according to which the Ombudsman stated that the witness had cancelled this exhumation in Retalhuleu for political reasons. Although he knew about the contradictions between the exhumation and autopsy records and he knew the father of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, he made no attempt to seek the latter's family in order to conduct the exhumation, because, at that time, a pre-trial was being conducted against him. He trusted that the Ombudsman would give due follow-up to the case. He had also learned through the newspapers, on the one hand, that Bámaca Velásquez was in the hands of the Army and being tortured and that, subsequently, he had been executed; and, on the other, that in 1993, an exhumation had been conducted in the Retalhuleu cemetery, when it was concluded that “the body buried as XX and presented as that of Efraín Bámaca Velásquez did not correspond to the physical characteristics of Mr. Bámaca Velásquez.” In 1992, as a result of the proceeding that was underway against him, he requested the Congress of the Republic that to permit an “antejuicio” (pre-trial), a procedure aimed at suspending a Government official from his functions until his legal situation is clarified, so that he may defend himself “without any kind of privilege”. In consequence, he was effectively suspended as Attorney General from September 1992 to September 1993. In September 1993, having resolved his situation before the tribunals, he returned to his functions “and immediately present[ed] [his] resignation”, in order to allow the new President of the Republic, Ramiro de León Carpio, to select another person to occupy the position. He was again appointed Attorney General for the period 1994-