E/CN.4/2000/9 page 149 50 soldiers of the Mexican Army, including the persons arrested, on 18 March in Mexico City in protest against alleged violations of their human rights, their pay and the military code under which they are tried. It is understood that, on 22 March 1999, the persons arrested were transferred to the Military Prison of the 15th Military District and to the Fifth Military Region with headquarters at Guadalajara, Jalisco, as well as to the Third Military Region with headquarters at Mazatlán, Sinaloa. 751. On 19 May 1999, the Special Rapporteur and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, forwarded a joint urgent appeal concerning the following situation: on 20 April 1999, the peasant Evaristo Albino Téllez, aged 27, and Antonio Mendoza Olivero, a child aged 12, reportedly left Barrio Nuevo San José, part of the autonomous municipality of Rancho Nuevo Democracia, Guerrero State, to get in their harvest. When they failed to return, on the following day the sister-in-law of Evaristo Albino Téllez, Francisca Santos Pablo, aged 33, and the boy's grandmother, Victoriana Vázquez Sánchez, aged 50, went out to look for them. When the women reached the plot of land, they encountered many soldiers, who had made an incursion into the Mixtec indigenous area of the municipality of Tlacoachistlahuaca on 19 April 1999. When they saw the soldiers, the women tried to flee but were allegedly caught and raped by the soldiers. The two women managed to get back and tell community leaders what had happened. According to the information received, the soldiers patrolled the plot of land for several days, so that no one from the community dared go near the place for fear of new attacks. On 28 April 1999, after the soldiers had left the area, traces of blood, the child's sandals, cartridge cases, blood-stained rubber gloves and a mask were found there. While the soldiers were at the site, they also allegedly beat and stripped Rufino Ramirez Santos and beat a 10-year-old girl who was with him. These facts were reported to the National Human Rights Commission and the State Human Rights Commission. They were also reported to the Public Prosecutor's Office in Ometepec and to the judge of the court of first instance in the same place, who for two days allegedly refused to grant the equivalent of a habeas corpus application as long as Antonio Mendoza and Evaristo Albino did not appear before the authorities. On 7 May 1999, the State Human Rights Commission is said to have informed the relatives of Antonio Mendoza and Evaristo Albino that they had been killed by soldiers who claimed that Evaristo and Antonio had fired shots at them. According to the information received, the Public Prosecutor's Office of Ometepec, where the dead bodies had been taken, knew of the deaths of Evaristo and Antonio well before the family was informed. When relatives consulted the coroner's office (SEMFO) in Acapulco, Guerrero, they learned that Antonio Mendoza had bled to death from a single gunshot wound in the leg. 752. The Government replied to this urgent appeal by letter dated 17 August 1999. With respect to Evaristo Albino Téllez, Antonio Mendoza Olivero, Francisca Santos Pablo and Victoriana Vázquez Sánchez, the Government stated that the ongoing inquiries showed that the actions of the military personnel had always been strictly correct and in compliance with the Constitution and the applicable law; the allegation that military personnel were in the neighbourhood of the community Barrio Nuevo San José on 20 April 1999 was false since they were in the Romano base of operations north of the village of San Miguel Tejalpan, in the municipality of Tlacoachistlahuaca, Guerrero; it was untrue that for no reason whatsoever military personnel had molested and caused the death of Evaristo Albino Téllez and the child Antonio Olivero and that Francisca Santos Pablo and Victoriana Vázquez Sánchez had been raped by soldiers. The Government