this assistance would be specified when deciding on the expert and testimonial evidence and the opening of the oral proceedings. 9. On December 26, 2011, the State presented its brief in answer to the submission of the case and to the pleadings and motions brief (hereinafter “the answering brief”). In this answering brief, El Salvador acknowledged and accepted “the facts alleged in the application [sic] presented by the Commission […] that had been considered proven facts in its report on merits,” as well as the related facts in the pleadings and motions brief submitted by the representatives of the presumed victims; however, it included observations on the loss of property and on the displacement of the surviving presumed victims. In addition, it declared unilaterally that “the limitation of competence – erroneously referred to as ‘reservation’ – contained in point number II of the written statement of June 6, 1995, is not liable to exceptions or operative in the instant case.” Based on this acknowledgment, the Salvadoran State indicated that it waived the possibility of filing preliminary objections under Article 42 of the Rules of Procedure. Similarly, the State did not offer deponents or expert witnesses, as provided for in Article 41(1)(b) and (c) of the Rules of Procedure. 10. On February 10, 2012, the representatives and the Commission submitted their respective observations on the acknowledgment made by the Salvadoran State. 11. After the presentation of the main briefs (supra paras. 1, 7 and 9), the President of the Court required, in an Order of March 22, 2012,6 that the statements of eight deponents, all proposed by the representatives, and the expert opinions of three expert witnesses, one proposed by the Commission and two proposed by the representatives be received by affidavit. The State did not offer deponents or expert witnesses. The representatives, the State, and the Commission had the opportunity to formulate any relevant questions to the deponents and expert witnesses before the latter prepared their respective affidavits, and also to submit their observations on the affidavits. Only the Commission submitted questions.7 On April 18, 2012, the representatives and the Commission forwarded the affidavits. 12. The President also summoned the parties and the Commission to a public hearing to receive their final oral arguments and observations, respectively, on the merits and eventual reparations and costs, as well as three statements and two expert opinions, all proposed by the representatives. Lastly, the President decided that the financial assistance of the Legal Assistance Fund (supra para. 8) should be allocated to cover the necessary travel and accommodation expenses for the three deponents and one expert witness to appear before the Court and provide their statements and expert opinion, respectively, during the said public hearing. 13. The public hearing took place on April 23, 2012, during the Court’s forty-fifth special session, which was held in Guayaquil, Republic of Ecuador.8 6 Cf. Case of the Massacres of El Mozote and nearby places v. El Salvador. Summons to a public hearing. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of March 22, 2012. Available at: http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/asuntos/elmozote_%2022_03_12.pdf 7 In application of the provisions of Article 50(5) of the Court’s Rules of Procedure, and in accordance with the Order of the President of March 22, 2012 (considering paragraphs 27 to 31 and the second operative paragraph), on March 30, 2012, the Commission presented a list of question for the expert witnesses Luis Fondebrider, Silvana Turner and Mercedes C. Doretti. For their part, the representatives and the State indicated that they did not wish to pose questions. 8 The following appeared at this hearing: (a) for the Inter-American Commission: Rosa María Ortiz, Commissioner, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Silvia Serrano Guzmán, Isabel Madariaga and Karla I. Quintana Osuna, Experts and lawyers from the Executive Secretariat; (b) for the representatives: Wilfredo Medrano and Ovidio Mauricio González, OTLA, and Gisela De León and Marcela Martino, CEJIL, and (c) for the State: Ambassador Sebastián Vaquerano López, Deputy Agent; David Ernesto Morales Cruz, Director General of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; David Amilcar Mena Rodríguez, Coordinator of the Social Dialogue Unit of the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency; Josué Samuel Hernández, Deputy Director General of Statistics and Censuses, and Gloria Evelyn Martínez Ramos, Expert from the Direction General for Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 7