and four months after it was brought, no person had been brought before a competent judicial authority, for which reason they met the terms of the exception to the rule of exhaustion of remedies under domestic law envisaged in Article 46.2.c of the American Convention. 14. In short, the petitioners allege that their right to private and intimate life has been violated by the illegal tapping, recording, and subsequently publication of their telephone conversations. Furthermore, they allege that in spite of having denounced the facts to the judicial authorities, who accepted the illegality of the acts by the State, no-one has been sanctioned for what took place, in violation of their rights to due legal process and access to justice. With regard to the requirements for admissibility, the petitioners allege they have tried to bring to an end the violations and have sought to have those responsible brought to justice by a mandado de segurança and a criminal action. They also claim that they presented their petition within a reasonable period. B. State 15. The State says that on April 28, 1999, the office of the Minister of Public Security for the State of Paraná requested the judge for the area of Loanda-Paraná to authorize the tapping of a telephone line belonging to COANA, a cooperative of workers linked to the MST. The tap was authorized on May 5, 1999. Later, representatives of COANA and other workers affiliated to the Movement for Rural Landless Workers lodged a mandado de segurança against the judicial authorization referred to and alleged amongst other things the illegitimacy of the police authority that requested the limitation on the right to intimacy and the lack of basis in law for the judicial decision. The plaintiffs also lodged a criminal charge against the judge in the case and against the Minister for Public Security for having divulged to the press the content of the recordings. 16. The State alleges that “on learning that the established and definite right of the plaintiffs was no longer being violated at the time when the mandamus was lodged, the State of Paraná court extinguished the proceedings without considering the merits of the case.” Because they did not agree with this decision, the petitioners lodged remedies called embargos de declaração requesting the court to pronounce specifically with regard to the petition for destruction of the recordings. 17. The State argued that the facts described indicate that the petitioners have not complied with the requirement to exhaust all remedies available under domestic law. In particular, the State points out that the petitioners have not exhausted the constitutional appeal established in Article 105, II, b of the Federal Brazilian Constitution. 18. The State alleges that under domestic law, following a decision that puts an end to the proceedings of mandado de segurança it is possible to open a constitutional appeal to be considered by the High Court. The State indicates that domestic law accepts that the decision that rejected the mandado de segurança refers as much to those cases where the remedy is denied because of incidental questions as to when the merits of the case are decided. Because of this, if the petitioners were not in agreement with the decision, they should have indicated it through the constitutional channels provided under Brazilian law. 19. Therefore, according to the State, the petitioners have not exhausted the remedy of the constitutional appeal and so are disqualified from applying to the bodies of the inter-American system. Consequently, the State requests that the petition should be declared inadmissible in accordance with Articles 47.a and 46.1.a of the American Convention. IV. ANALYSIS A. Competence ratione personae, ratione materiae, ratione temporis, and ratione loci of the Inter-American Commission 20. According to Article 44 of the American Convention and Article 23 of its Rules of Procedure, the petitioners, as legally recognized non-governmental bodies, are empowered to lodge petitions before the IACHR, concerning alleged violations of the American Convention. With reference to the State, the Commission observes that the Federative Republic of Brazil is party to the American Convention, having ratified it on September 25, 1992. The Commission finds 3