20 VIII VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 4 OF THE AMERICAN CONVENTION (RIGHT TO LIFE) IN RELATION TO ARTICLES 1(1) AND 2 THEREOF Arguments of the Commission 44. In relation to Article 4(1) of the Convention, the Commission argued that: (a) By imposing a mandatory death sentence on Mr. Raxcacó Reyes under Article 201 of the Penal Code, the State violated his right not to be arbitrarily deprived of his life, embodied in Article 4(1) of the American Convention; (b) Owing to the current wording of Article 201 of the Penal Code, which stipulates that once the authorship of a crime of kidnapping has been established the only punishment is the death penalty, a court cannot assess whether there are any attenuating circumstances in order to adjust the punishment. As it is drafted, the law obliges the sentencing court to impose the punishment based solely on the type of crime of which the accused is found guilty; (c) When imposing punishments on those found guilty, Article 65 of the Guatemalan Penal Code obliges the courts to examine a series of factors in addition to the crime, such as the greater or lesser dangerousness of the guilty person, his personal background and that of the victim, the motive for the crime, the extent and severity of the harm caused, and any attenuating or aggravating circumstances relating to the fact, both the quantity and quality of which are assessed. In the specific case of Mr. Raxcacó Reyes, the particular circumstances of the fact and of the accused were never considered. Once the sentencing court found him guilty of the crime of kidnapping, it imposed the death penalty immediately, as established by domestic law; and (d) The supervisory organs of international human rights instruments have subjected provisions concerning the death penalty to a restrictive interpretation, to ensure that the law controls and limits the circumstances in which a State may deprive a person of his life. 45. In relation to Article 4(2) of the American Convention, the Commission indicated that: (a) Article 201 of the Penal Code in force on May 25, 1978, the date on which the State deposited the instrument ratifying the American Convention, established the death penalty as the punishment for the crime of kidnapping or abduction only if the person kidnapped died, while the same type of conduct which did not result in death was punished by 8 to 15 years of imprisonment; Castro-Conde, given before notary public (affidavit) on May 18, 2005 (file on merits, reparations, and costs, Volume III, folios 478-498).