57 official duty (prevaricato) by omission, violation of another’s dwelling by a public servant, and abuse of authority, under file No. 3775.257 The facts were not made known to the competent authorities until 16 or 17 hours after they had occurred.258 By resolution of November 3, 2006, the Office of the Attorney General specially designated the Prosecutor Delegate before the Criminal Judges of the Specialized Circuit, under the National Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit based in the city of Medellín, to carry out that investigation.259 At present the investigation is in the preliminary inquiry phase.260 203. The Office of the Regional Prosecutor also launched a disciplinary investigation in exercise of its preferential authority. Later transferred to the Office of the Prosecutor-Delegate for Human Rights, the investigation was to inquire into the alleged search of Mrs. Mery Naranjo’s home and the injuries to the child Luisa María Escudero and was against a second lieutenant in the National Army.261 On September 6, 2006, the order was given to begin the investigation and carry it forward; two special visits have been conducted and 8 spontaneous statements and 8 declarations have been taken, 26 memoranda have been issued and 3 measures have been ordered.262 V. LEGAL ANALYSIS Preliminary Considerations 204. The allegations of the petitioners before the IACHR have several common threads and can be summarized in the following terms. The petitioners sustain that the State failed to respect and guarantee several rights of five human rights defenders in the Comuna 13 of Medellín in a known context of armed conflict in the zone by 2002 with specific risks for their integrity, life and organizational work. They sustain that such defenders have suffered a series of acts of harassment and threats by state actors and paramilitary groups, which have remained in impunity, and the extension of such violations to the family circle of the same. The State advances a similar position in the three joined cases, declaring not being responsible for these events and that it is duly investigating the same. The State also presents information of a series of efforts which it has undertaken to recover normalcy in the Comuna 13 in Medellín. 205. Prior to its examination of the merits of this matter, the IACHR deems pertinent to rule on several elements of context, and how it will analyze their scope in its consideration of the international responsibility of the State of Colombia under different provisions of the American Convention. 206. The petitioners claim that the incidents pertaining to Ms. Rúa, Bastidas, Mosquera, Naranjo, and Yarce took place in a context characterized by three factors. Firstly, the petitioners 257 Note DIDHD/GOI No. 77119/2954 from the Colombian State, November 15, 2012, p. 68. 258 Annex 77. Single Criminal Notice Form, February 14, 2006, Complainant: Mery del Socorro Naranjo, Information on the Victim: Luisa Maria Escudero. Annex 7. Petitioners’ observations in reference to the matter of Miryam Eugenia Rúa Figueroa et al. – Case 12,595, May 3, 2012; Note DH. GOI No. 12442-0552 from the Colombian State, March 15, 2007, p. 14. 259 260 Note DH. GOI No. 12442-0552 from the Colombian State, March 15, 2007, p. 15. Note DIDHD/GOI No. 77119/2954 from the Colombian State, November 15, 2012, p. 68. 261 Note DH. GOI No. 12442-0552 from the Colombian State, March 15, 2007, p. 15. 262 Note DH. GOI No. 12442-0552 from the Colombian State, March 15, 2007, p. 15.