5 not constitute a criminal offence, under the applicable law, at the time it was committed." 6. To forward this report to the State, which shall not be authorized to publish it, granting the State a period of two months to adopt the above recommendations. The period shall commence from the day on which the report is transmitted. 7. To inform the petitioner of the adoption of an Article 50 report in this case. 12. On December 10, 1997, the State rejected the Commission's report, alleging "legal reasons and ... [of domestic law that impede it] from executing the recommendations of the honourable Inter-American Commission on Human Rights." 13. On January 14, 1998, the Commission, in the minutes of a conference telephone call, decided to refer the case to the Court. IV PROCEEDING BEFORE THE COURT 14. On January 16, 1998, the Commission presented the application to the Court. The Commission appointed Carlos Ayala-Corao and Hélio Bicudo as its Delegates before this Court, Jorge E. Taiana and Manuel Velasco-Clark as its Advisors, and Minerva Gómez, Ariel Dulitzky, Viviana Kristicevic and Marcela Matamoros as their assistants. In a note received by the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter the “Secretariat”) on June 18, 1998, Marcela Matamoros advised that she was withdrawing from the instant case. 15. On January 28, 1998, once the President of the Court (hereinafter the “President") had made a preliminary examination of the application, the Secretariat notified it to the State, and informed it of the time limits for replying to it, opposing preliminary objections and appointing its representatives. Moreover, the State was invited to name a Judge ad hoc. 16. On February 20, 1998, Panama appointed Rolando Adolfo Reyna-Rodriguez as the Judge ad hoc. 17. On February 27, 1998, the State appointed Carlos Vargas-Pizarro as its Agent. 18. On April 17, 1998, after having requested two extensions to the period for presenting preliminary objections, the State filed four preliminary objections. 19. On May 14, 1998 the State requested an extension of one month to submit its reply to the application. On May 18, 1998, the Secretariat, in observance of instructions issued by the President, informed the State that the extension had been granted. 20. On May 20, 1998 the Commission presented its observations to the preliminary objections presented by Panama. 21. On June 29, 1998, the State submitted its reply to the application. It thereby expressed that it was respectful of human rights and that it had not invoked either public order, or social interest as means to suppress, denature or diminish in their real content the rights established in the Convention. Similarly, it indicated that