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He stated that he has been practicing forensic medicine for 14 years, during
which time he has performed “more than 4,000 autopsies and 1,200 of these
were for homicides”.
Regarding the youths found dead in the San Nicolás Woods, he declared that
the forensic analysis report in the case contained important information, such
as the fact that the youths had not been killed in the place where the bodies
were found. He stated that two of the victims, those who were found on June
16, 1990, had died that day before 3.30 a.m. or at 5.30 a.m. at the latest;
the other two, whose bodies were found the following day, were also killed on
June 16, 1990, but after 3.30 a.m., approximately 12 hours later. He stated
that the two groups of youths that were found died at different times. He
affirmed that the autopsy report on Henry Giovanni Contreras shows that
there were three wounds from a firearm, but there could have been four or
five. He indicated that one of the photographs shows that, in view of the type
of wound, the firearm was “let’s say, less than six inches away; it was very
close”. He added that there are signs that the shot was fired when the youth
was alive, not afterwards. Regarding the modus operandi used in the
homicide of the alleged victims, he stated that it was the same in all the
cases “because they have multiple shots to the head”. Moreover, to the
question of whether the youths died during a fight in which they might have
defended themselves and also attacked their aggressors, he pointed out that
there was no evidence of this and that it was very probable that they had
been fired upon at very close range. Furthermore, he stated that Henry
Giovanni Contreras “received three shots [from] behind”.
He added that, contrary to the usual practice in his profession, in this case,
steps were not taken to locate and record certain information that could have
helped in the identification, such as photographs, fingerprints or dental
studies. He stated that the forensic medicine reports that were prepared in
this case are poor, because there were wounds that are visible in the
photographs, that were not recorded in the reports and because it is not
possible to relate the photographs of the bodies to the official numbers on the
autopsy reports. Moreover, he stated that the photographs are only of the
face so that it is not possible to see if there were wounds in other parts of the
body. He indicated that each of the autopsies of the victims was performed in
30 minutes, and that it is not possible to perform an autopsy well in such a
short period of time. He concluded by saying that, from what can be seen in
the reports, the homicides of the youths were premeditated.
With regard to the case of Anstraum Aman Villagrán Morales, he stated that
the victim was on the ground when he was shot and he therefore inferred that
this homicide was also a premeditated act.
b.
Report of Alberto Bovino, Expert in criminal law, criminal
procedural law and human rights
He stated that, when the hearing was being held, he was working on a book
on the rights of the victim in Guatemalan criminal proceedings and Costa
Rican law and that he had a fairly detailed knowledge of the court files in the
instant case and the now rescinded Criminal Procedural Code, which was in
force when the case was being processed.