2 FACTS SET FORTH IN THE APPLICATION 2. The Inter-American Commission stated in its application that at approximately eleven o’clock on October 6, 1987, merchants Alvaro Lobo Pacheco, Gerson Rodríguez, Israel Pundor, Angel Barrera, Antonio Flores Ochoa, Carlos Arturo Riatiga, Victor Ayala, Alirio Chaparro, Huber Pérez, Alvaro Camargo, Rubén Pineda, Gilberto Ortiz, Reinaldo Corso Vargas, Hernán Jáuregui, Juan Bautista, Alberto Gómez and Luis Sauza were inspected by the Army when they passed through the hamlet of Puerto Araujo. This inspection is the last official indication of their whereabouts, before they entered the Municipality of Boyacá and El Diamante farm, an area that was at the time allegedly under total control of a paramilitary group. Toward nightfall, that same day, the merchants were retained by a paramilitary group operating in the Municipality of Boyacá (sic), and they were executed that same night or the following day. The detainment, disappearance, and subsequent execution of the merchants were jointly planned by the paramilitary group operating in the area and members of the V Brigade of the Army. Subsequently, on October 18, 1987, Juan Montero and Ferney Fernández, who were traveling through the area searching for the 17 missing merchants, were detained and murdered by the paramilitary group operating in the area. After the alleged victims were executed, their bodies were brutally destroyed so as to avoid their being identified. The Commission also stated that “judicial activity undertaken by the State authorities, specifically the regular and military courts, over more than a decade[,] does not satisfy the standards set forth in the American Convention regarding the right to fair trial.” In light of the above, the Commission noted that “trial of the Army officers who were the alleged intellectual authors of the massacre, in military courts [...] ended in cessation of the proceedings,” and that “trial of the civilians responsible for directly perpetrating the facts is still pending.” In view of the above, the Commission filed this case for the Court to decide whether the State violated Articles 4 (Right to Life) and 7 (Right to Personal Liberty) of the American Convention due to the detainment, disappearance, and execution of merchants Alvaro Lobo Pacheco, Gerson Rodríguez, Israel Pundor, Angel Barrera, Antonio Flores Ochoa, Carlos Arturo Riatiga, Victor Ayala, Alirio Chaparro, Huber Pérez, Alvaro Camargo, Rubén Pineda, Gilberto Ortiz, Reinaldo Corso Vargas, Hernán Jáuregui, Juan Bautista, Alberto Gómez and Luis Sauza, on October 6, 1987, and of Juan Montero and Ferney Fernández, on October 18, 1987, in the municipality of Puerto Boyacá, department of Boyacá, region of the Middle Magdalena. The Commission also requested that the Court decide whether the State is responsible for violation of Articles 5 (Right to Humane Treatment), 8(1) (Right to Fair Trial), and 25 (Right to Judicial Protection) of the American Convention, to the detriment of the aforementioned alleged victims and their next of kin, as well as for non-compliance with the provisions of Article 1(1) (Obligation to Respect Rights) of that Treaty. III PROCEDURE BEFORE THE COMMISSION 3. On March 6, 1996 the Colombian Commission of Jurists filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission, based on the alleged forced disappearance of the nineteen merchants (supra para. 2) carried out by members of the National Army and members of a paramilitary group in the municipality of Puerto Boyacá, department of Boyacá, region of the Middle Magdalena.