The legal investigation into the killings of the former army chief-of-staff, General Tagme Na Wai, and of the former president, João Bernardo Vieira (known as "Nino" Vieira), seems to have reached a dead end two years after the double assassination (April 2009, The political scene). Five army officers, who had been arrested shortly after the assassinations, were released at the end of December owing to a lack of evidence. On the second anniversary of the killings in early March, the prime minister, Carlos Gomes Júnior, vowed to accelerate investigations into all political crimes perpetrated in Guinea-Bissau and said that he had asked the UN Security Council to send an independent commission to the capital, Bissau, to investigate the two cases. The EU has also pressed for quicker progress in the investigation. Guinea-Bissau's public prosecutor, Amine Michel Saad, however, noted that investigators were having difficulty gathering sufficient evidence, particularly regarding the Vieira assassination, and that more patience was needed. This statement was greeted with anger by the victims' families and their spokesperson, Roberto Cacheu, who called on Mr Saad to resign if he was unable to make more rapid progress.