5 [the various probatory steps ordered on July 30, 2004 by the Specialized Prosecutor of the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit of the Office of the Government Attorney [Fiscalía General de la Nación] of Colombia and on the public hearing being held by the Ninth Criminal Court of the Specialized Circuit of Bogotá against General Jaime Humberto Uscátegui Ramírez”. On January 31, 2005 the Secretariat, under instructions by the President, asked the State and the InterAmerican Commission to submit their comments on the matter. 25. On January 28, 2005 the President issued an Order in which, in accordance with Articles 44 and 47(3) of the Rules of Procedure, he summoned the witnesses offered by the representatives, Carmen Johanna Jaramillo Giraldo, Esther Pinzón López, Sara Paola Pinzón López, María Teresa Pinzón López, Yur Mary Herrera Contreras, Zuli Herrera Contreras, Maryuri Caicedo Contreras, Nadia Marina Valencia Sanmiguel, Yinda Adriana Valencia Sanmiguel, Johanna Marina Valencia Sanmiguel, Gustavo Caicedo Contreras, Rusbel Asdrúbal Martínez Contreras, Roland Andrés Valencia Sanmiguel, Ronald Mayiber Valencia Sanmiguel, and Luis Guillermo Pérez, as well as expert witnesses Ana Deutsch and Robin Kirk, to render their testimony and expert opinions through statements made before a notary public (affidavits), which should be sent by the representatives no later than February 15, 2005. The President also granted a non-extendable 7-day period, beginning on the date said statements were received, for the Commission and the State to submit such comments as they deemed pertinent. The President also summoned the Commission, the representatives and the State to a public hearing to be held at the seat of the Inter-American Court beginning on March 7, 2005 at 8:45 a.m., to hear their final oral pleadings on the preliminary objections and merits, reparations, and costs in the instant case, as well as the testimony of Nory Girlado de Jaramillo, Marina Sanmiguel Duarte, and Viviana Barrera Cruz, offered by the Commission and by the representatives; Luz Mery Pinzón López and Mariela Contreras Cruz, offered by the representatives, and Manuel José Bonnet Locarno, Harold Bedoya Pizarro, and Camilo Osorio Isaza, offered by the State; as well as the expert opinion of Federico Andreu, proposed by the representatives. The President also informed the parties that they had a non-extendable period up to April 8, 2005 to submit their final written pleadings with regard to the preliminary objections and merits, reparations, and costs. 26. On February 2, 2005 the State submitted a brief in which it partially desisted from the testimonial evidence offered with regard to Manuel José Bonnet Locarno and Harold Bedoya Pizarro, and at the same time it requested authorization to replace the statement by Camilo Osorio Isaza with that of Gustavo Morales Marín. 27. On February 9 and 10, 2005, in response to a request by the Secretariat, under instructions by the President, the representatives and the Commission submitted their comments on said requests regarding the testimony offered as evidence by the State (supra para. 26). 28. On February 10, 2005 the State forwarded some of the information requested by the representatives in their January 26, 2005 brief (supra para. 24). 29. On February 15, 2005 the representatives forwarded the statements rendered before a notary public (affidavits) and the sworn statements requested by the President (supra para. 25), except those of Rusbel Asdrúbal Martínez Contreras and Roland Mayiber Valencia Sanmiguel “for reasons of force majeure”.