Guerrero, initiated a criminal investigation. 70 On May 4, 1999, said office ordered the legal detention of Messrs. Cabrera and Montiel. 71 Because these were federal offenses, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Common Jurisdiction of Arcelia, state of Guerrero, referred the inquiry to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office of Coyuca de Catalán. 72 Due to its lack of jurisdiction, on May 12, 1999 the case was submitted to the First Instance Court of the Criminal Branch of the Mina Judicial District, which notified Messrs. Montiel and Cabrera of the formal order of imprisonment. 73 The trial court of Mina declined its jurisdiction and the case was forwarded to the Fifth District Judge of the Twenty-First Circuit in Coyuca de Catalán (hereinafter “the Fifth District Court”). 74 On August 28, 2000, this court handed down a conviction against Messrs. Cabrera and Montiel, sentencing them to prison terms of six years eight months and ten years, respectively. 75 70. Mr. Montiel Flores was convicted of the crimes of possession of firearms intended for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy and Air Force, possession of a firearm without a permit and for a crime against health through the cultivation of marijuana. 76 Mr. Cabrera García was convicted of the crime of carrying a firearm intended for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. 77 After filing the motions of appeal, on October 26, 2000 the First Single-Magistrate Court of the Twenty-First Circuit (hereinafter “the First Single-Magistrate Court) upheld the convictions of Messrs. Cabrera and Montiel. 78 In 2001, they were released and kept under house arrest in order to continue serving the sentence, due to their health condition (infra para. 117). 70 Cf. Court order opening the preliminary criminal inquiry of May 5, 1999 (Preliminary Inquiry N° CUAU/01/119/999) (File of attachments to the answer brief, volume XXIII, page 9689). 71 Cf. Court order for the legal detention of Messrs. Cabrera and Montiel on May 4, 1999 (Preliminary Inquiry N° CUAU/01/119/999) (File of attachments to the application, volume XI, page 4222). 72 Cf. Decision to transfer proceedings due to lack of jurisdiction of May 5, 1999 (Preliminary Inquiry N° CUAU/01/119/999) (File of attachments to the answer brief, volume XI, page 4239). 73 Cf. Formal imprisonment order of May 28, 1999 (Preliminary Inquiry N° 33/CC/999) (File of attachments to the answer brief, volume XXIII, page 9879). 74 Cf. Acceptance of jurisdiction brief of May 12, 1999 (Criminal Case 61/99) (File of attachments to the answer brief, volume XXIII, pages 9873 and 9874). 75 Cf. Judgment delivered on August 28, 2000 by the Fifth District Court of the state of Guerrero (Criminal Case 61/99) (File of attachments to the answer brief, volume XXVI, pages 11137 to 11303). 76 The crimes of possession of firearms without a permit and possession of firearms for the exclusive use of the Navy, Army and National Air Force are established in Articles 81 and 83, section II of the Firearms and Explosives Federal Act, respectively. According to these rules, the penalty for possessing any regulated firearm without a proper permit is imprisonment “for three to ten years.” Moreover, Article 198 of the Federal Criminal Code refers to the crime of cultivation of poppies and marihuana in the following terms: “Article 198.- Anyone whose principal activity is farming and who plants, cultivates or harvests marijuana, poppies, hallucinogenic mushrooms, peyote or any other plant that produces similar effects, either on his own account or with funding from third parties, if he has little education and is in extreme financial need, shall be imprisoned for one to six years. The same penalty shall be imposed on anyone who allows land he owns, is a tenant on, or holds to be used to plant, cultivate or harvest those plants, in similar circumstances to the previous hypothesis. If the conduct described in the two preceding paragraphs is not accompanied by the circumstances specified therein, the penalty shall be up to two thirds of the penalty stipulated in Article 194, provided the planting, cultivation or harvesting is carried out for the purpose of engaging in any conduct described in subparagraphs I and II of that Article. If that purpose is absent, the penalty shall be two to eight years in prison […]..” 77 11300. Cf. Judgment delivered on August 28, 2000 by the Fifth District Court, supra note 75, page 78 Cf. Judgment issued on October 26, 2000 by the First Single-Magistrate Court of the TwentyFirst Circuit (Docket number 406/2000) (File of attachments to the answer brief, volume XXVI, pages 11322 to volume XXVII, page 12205). 27