19 56. On September 21, 2004, the State forwarded the case files of the domestic proceeding against María Teresa De La Cruz Flores, which had been requested as helpful evidence (supra paras. 33 and 37).24 B) TESTIMONIAL AND EXPERT EVIDENCE 57. On July 2, 2004, the Court received the statements of the witness proposed by the Inter-American Commission and the opinion of the expert witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission and the alleged victim’s representatives. The Court will now summarize the relevant part of these statements: a. Testimony of Álvaro Eduardo Vidal Rivadeneyra, surgeon He met María Teresa De La Cruz Flores in 1999. She had been detained when an individual was being mistreated because he had been caught distributing subversive leaflets within the Polyclinic where Physician De La Cruz Flores worked. In accordance with the Peruvian Constitution, the medical associations presume the innocence of their colleagues and, in this case, assumed the defense of the member, De La Cruz Flores. He knew about another lawsuit against the alleged victim in 1996, when he had been advised that she had been detained for treating individuals who were allegedly involved in terrorism. Several associations assumed the defense of Mrs. De La Cruz Flores, and also other professionals, acting on the principle that, since it is designed to safe someone’s life, medical activities are activities that deserve the protection of the Code of Ethics and Deontology of the Physician’s Professional Association of Peru, according to which, a physician has the moral obligation to safe the lives of human beings. Medical activities cannot be penalized and reprisals cannot be taken against them. The World Medical Association has an oath and also an International Code of Medical Ethics, which affirms that medical activities are cannot be prosecuted or be the object of reprisals because they are designed to safe the lives of human beings. The Medical Association of the Social Security Institute and the Physician’s Professional Association of Peru appointed a lawyer to defend Mrs. De La Cruz Flores. The lawyer, Javier Ríos Castillo, and the Physician’s Professional Association of Peru were co-petitioners before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Physician’s Professional Association of Peru, the Peruvian Medical Federation and the Medical Association of the Peruvian Social Security Institute defended numerous physicians who were detained for “treating alleged terrorists.” Most of these physicians were freed after they had been detained for several months or years; some were absolved, but others are still detained. The report presented by the Peruvian Medical Federation to the Peruvian Mission to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in November 1993, published in 1994, includes the complete list of all the physicians detained, case by case, with a summary of the status of each one. This Association addressed then President Fujimori calling for the release of 24 Cf. files of helpful evidence presented by the State, tomes I to XVII, folios 1 to 10787.