36 107. It is also important to point out that a criminal process, pursuant to that established in the Code of Criminal Procedures of 1983, which was applicable to the alleged victim, should not exceed one hundred days. However, in the case of Mr. Acosta Calderón, it lasted more than five years without any justification for such a delay. 108. In view of the foregoing, the Court concludes that the State violated, to the detriment of Mr. Acosta Calderón, the right to be tried within a reasonable time, as established in Article 8(1) of the American Convention. b) Regarding the right to be presumed innocent 109. Article 8(2) of the Convention provides that: Every person accused of a criminal offense has the right to be presumed innocent so long as his guilt has not been proven according to law 110. Likewise, the 36th principle of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment of the United Nations, states that: [a] detained person suspected of or charged with a criminal offense shall be presumed innocent and shall be treated as such until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense.77 […] 111. This Court has stated that the principle of presumption of innocence constitutes a foundation for judicial guarantees. The obligation of the State to not restrict the detainee’s liberty beyond the limits strictly necessary to ensure that he will not impede the efficient development of the investigations and that he will not evade justice derives from that established in Article 8(2) of the Convention. In this sense, the preventive detention is a cautionary measure and not a punitive one. This concept is laid down in multiple instruments of international human rights law. The International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights provides that preventive detention should not be the normal practice in relation to persons who are to stand trial (Article 9(3)). It would constitute a violation to the Convention to keep a person whose criminal responsibility has not been established detained for a disproportionate period of time. This would be tantamount to anticipating a sentence, which is at odds with universally recognized general principles of law.78 112. It has been proven that Mr. Acosta Calderón remained imprisoned from November 15, 1989 to December 8, 1994 (supra paras. 50(2) and 50(43)). This detention was arbitrary and excessive (supra paras. 70 and 81), since there weren’t any reasons that could justify Mr. Acosta Calderón’s preventive detention for more than five years. 113. The Law on the Control of the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances indicated in its Articles 9 and 10 that any infraction to this law had to be proven through an obligatory report from the National Department for the Control of 77 U.N., Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, supra note 55, Principle 36. 78 Cfr. Case of Tibi, supra note 6, para. 180; and Case of Suárez Rosero, supra note 60, para. 77.