4 17. As for the family of Claudina Isabel, they contend that it has encountered a justice system that has done everything it could to make them desist in their efforts to find the guilty parties. Since the start of the investigation, they report that the family of the alleged victim has been subjected to a secondary victimization: first, when the agents of the Public Ministry went to the funeral chapel to take the victim’s fingerprints, while the family was maintaining its vigil over the remains of Claudina Isabel Velásquez; and subsequently, when the family was subjected to the indifference, contempt, and lack of interest of prosecutors and officials involved in the case, as a result of which they were forced to give the same facts countless times. 18. With regard to the exhaustion of domestic remedies, they allege that a number of years have gone by since the murder of Claudina Isabel Velásquez and the case continues to be in the investigative stage. Despite the family’s efforts, and especially those of her father, who became a co-complainant in the case, they report that there is no interest in conducting an investigation or in determining the perpetrators of the crime. For these reasons, they argue that the rule of prior exhaustion of domestic remedies is not applicable, by virtue of Article 46.2 of the American Convention. B. The State 19. The State alleges that the death of Claudina Isabel Velásquez occurred on Saturday August 13, 2005, between 2:12 am and 5:00 am, based on a call made to the 110 number of the National Civilian Police reporting a possible rape, and on the statement of Mrs. Concepción de María Méndez, who reported that she had heard a shot fired outside her residence, in front of the place where the body later identified as Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz was found. At 5:00 am, her body was discovered with a bullet wound in the left frontal region of the cranium, on 10ª Avenida, in front of 8-87 “A” Roosevelt neighborhood, zone 11, of the capital. 20. Between the time of the disappearance and death of Claudina Velásquez and now, the State reports that various steps have been taken by the Public Ministry and different lines of investigation have been followed. The State maintains that the Public Ministry performed its proper functions from the time it first learned of the death of Claudina Isabel Velásquez. The judicial assistants who discovered the murder in 2005 took urgent steps to collect evidence, steps “that were not welcomed by the Velásquez Paiz family, and so the judicial assistants were punished accordingly.” 21. It indicates that among the activities carried out by the Presidential Commission coordinating the Executive Policy on Human Rights, COPREDEH, it met with the prosecutor’s office in charge of the case and determined the procedures carried out, checking the evidentiary documents sent by Mr. Velásquez, and that the prosecutor stated that since he had learned of the death, the investigation had been constantly moving forward and was now at a key stage involving the filing of charges as part of a domestic criminal proceeding. 1 22. It alleges that there are investigative activities that cannot be mentioned, since they would slow down the investigation being conducted by the prosecution. However, the steps taken by the Public Ministry so far demonstrate the State’s interest and the line of investigation pursued to identify the principal perpetrators of the death of Claudina Isabel Velásquez, and these activities are reported to Jorge Rolando Velásquez on a monthly basis. 23. With regard to the issue of exhaustion of domestic remedies, the State argues that domestic remedies have not been exhausted, and consequently the petition should be declared inadmissible. The State argues that the criminal investigation is still under way. 1 Communication of the State dated May 17, 2010.