5 17. Report 17/97 was transmitted to the State on April 24, 1997, with the request that within two months, it inform the Commission of the measures adopted in this regard. 18. After having requested and received an extension until July 8, 1997, the State presented a report wherein it took issue with the Commission’s findings and asserted the lawfulness of its actions. 19. The Commission decided to submit this case to the Court on June 27, 1997. IV PROCEEDINGS WITH THE COURT 20. The Court will now describe the course of the proceedings in the instant case, highlighting the most significant developments in the process. 21. When the application was filed with the Court on July 22, 1997 (supra 1), the Commission named Messrs. Oscar Luján Fappiano, Carlos Ayala Corao and Claudio Grossman as its delegates; Ms. Christina M. Cerna as attorney, and Verónica Reyna, Nelson Caucoto, Jaime Castillo Velasco and Enrique Correa as assistants. In accordance with Article 22.2 of the Rules of Procedure, it also advised the Court that the first two assistants had been among the original claimants, while that latter two had been attorneys for the alleged victims. On August 4, 1997, the Commission referred to the Court a power of attorney authorizing Mr. Jaime Castillo Velasco and Mr. Carlos Eduardo Margotta Trincado to represent alleged victims Castillo Petruzzi, Astorga Valdez and Mellado Saavedra. On August 27, 1997, the Commission sent the Court a power of attorney that the next of kin of the alleged victims had executed to Ms. Verónica Reyna Morales and Mr. Nelson Caucoto Pereira. On September 26, 1997, the Commission submitted a power of attorney executed to Mr. Enrique Correa to allow him to represent the alleged victims. 22. By note of July 31, 1997, after a preliminary examination of the application by the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”), the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the Secretariat”) notified the State of the application and advised it that it had the following time limits: four months to present its answer to the application, one month to appoint an agent and alternate agent, and two months to file preliminary objections. These time periods were to begin as of the date of notification of the application. By a communication of that same date, the State was invited to designate a judge ad hoc. 23. By communications of August 26 and 28, 1997, the Commission submitted a corrected version of the Spanish text of the application, and noted that it contained “corrections of minor errors, above all in style and [that it] should replace the earlier version […] submitted to the Court on July 22, 1997.” The corrected version was sent to the State on September 2 of that year. 24. On September 3, 1997, the State advised the Court that Mr. Fernando VidalRamírez had been appointed judge ad hoc.