3 11. The petitioners further state that during that night, during the curfew, a group of 20 men – who, on account of their weapons and uniforms, could be identified as members of the Salvadoran armed forces – ransacked the alleged victim’s apartment and seized personal documents and items of her property, including her vehicle. 12. With reference to Mauricio Cuellar Cuellar, the petitioners report that at the time of the incident, he was the general manager of the Salvadoran Industrialists’ Association. They claim that on July 28, 1982, after collecting Patricia Cuellar’s children (his grandchildren) from their kindergarten, he began taking steps to discover his daughter’s whereabouts. Thus, from his home in San Salvador’s Escalón district, he telephoned various relatives and family friends until at least 10:00 p.m. They claim that some time between then and the early hours of July 29, 1982, Mauricio Cuellar Cuellar and Julia Orbelina Pérez were violently abducted from the house. They report that on the morning of July 29, Mr. Cuellar’s home was discovered in complete disarray, with signs that all the rooms had been searched and the telephone connections damaged; they also claim that personal documents were removed, along with some money and Mr. Cuellar’s vehicle. They maintain that since that time, the whereabouts of Mauricio Cuellar Cuellar and Julia Orbelina Pérez remains unknown. 13. With reference to the investigation carried out, the petitioners report that on July 31, 1982, a habeas corpus filing was made on behalf of Patricia Emilie Cuellar Sandoval, but that it was not resolved by the competent authorities. 14. The petitioners also state that in November 1982, criminal proceedings No. 392-82 were initiated before the Fourth Criminal Court of San Salvador (since renamed the Fourth Investigating Court of San Salvador) to “investigate the abduction of Mr. Mauricio Cuellar Cuellar,” in which express reference was made not only to Mr. Mauricio Cuellar Cuellar’s abduction, but also to the alleged disappearances of Patricia Cuellar and Julia Orbelina Pérez. They state that the proceedings remain unresolved and that most of the formalities focused on the “kidnapping” of Mr. Cuellar Cuellar, while practically none of them sought to gather information on what had happened to the other alleged victims. 15. In addition, on March 28, 2003, a complaint was filed with the office of the General Prosecutor of the Republic of El Salvador (FGR) for the forced disappearances of the three alleged victims, which was registered as 1287-UDV-03. The petitioners note that in spite of being a party in those proceedings, they received no notifications about formalities or other steps taken after the complaint was filed. 16. Regarding the admissibility of their complaint, the petitioners claim that the situation at hand warrants the application of the exception to the rule requiring the exhaustion of domestic remedies enshrined in Article 46.2.c of the American Convention. Thus, they maintain there has been an unwarranted delay in resolving the three legal proceedings: the habeas corpus filing made on Patricia Cuellar’s behalf on July 31, 1982; criminal proceedings No. 392-82, lodged with the Fourth Criminal Court of San Salvador (today known as the Fourth Investigating Court of San Salvador); and the complaint filed with the office of the General Prosecutor of the Republic on March 28, 2003. They report that all these proceedings are still pending resolution. They add that in none of these proceedings have the guilty parties been investigated, pursued, arrested, or convicted, nor have any steps been taken to determine the whereabouts of the alleged victims. They further emphasize that at the time the incidents occurred, it was impossible to make effective use of the remedy of habeas corpus – understood, in accordance with the jurisprudence of the inter-American system, as the ideal resource to be pursued in forced disappearance cases – on