5. Brief with pleadings, motions and evidence. On March 26, 2012, the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (hereinafter “the representatives of the presumed victims,” “the representatives” or “CELS”) forwarded its brief with pleadings, motions and evidence (hereinafter “the pleadings and motions brief”). The representatives agreed, in general, with the violations alleged by the Inter-American Commission. However, they included Nilda Gutiérrez, sister of Jorge Omar Gutiérrez, who the Commission had not included as a presumed victim in its Merits Report, as a presumed victim of the violations of the rights contained in Articles 5, 8 and 25 of the Convention. Lastly, they asked the Court to order to State to provide diverse measures of reparation. 6. Answering brief. On July 27, 2012, the State presented its brief answering the submission of the case and with observations on the pleadings and motions brief (hereinafter “the answering brief”). In this brief, Argentina indicated “its willingness to accept the conclusions of the Merits Report adopted by the Inter-American Commission […], as well as the resulting legal consequences.” Nevertheless, it indicated that it “reject[ed] those passages in the representatives’ brief that tr[ied] to assimilate the facts of the case to situations of a systematic or general nature.” In addition, the State asked the Court to reject some of the evidence offered by the representatives and presented observations on the measures of reparation they had requested. The State appointed Alberto Javier Salgado as its Agent, and Julio Cesar Ayala and Andrea G. Gualde as Deputy Agents. 7. Observations on the acknowledgement of responsibility. On September 28, 2012, the Commission and the representatives, respectively, presented their observations on the acknowledgement of responsibility made by State (supra para. 6). 8. Public hearing and evidence. By an Order of December 20, 2012, 3 the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”) ordered that the statements of five presumed victims and the opinions of eight expert witnesses proposed by the representatives be received by sworn statements before notary public (hereinafter “affidavit”). In addition, the President convened the Inter-American Commission, the representatives, and the State to a public hearing to be held on February 5 and 6, 2013, to receive the statement of one presumed victim, and one expert opinion offered by the representatives, as well as to hear the final oral arguments of the representatives and of the State, and the final oral observations of the Commission on the merits, and eventual reparations and costs. 9. Postponement of the public hearing and presentation of an “Agreement on Reparations.” On December 21 and 26, 2012, the State and the representatives, respectively, advised the Court that they had “initiated discussions with a view […] to reaching agreement on an agenda of reparations” and, therefore, requested the postponement of the public hearing that had been convened, as well as the suspension of the time frames for the production and delivery of the evidence required in the President’s Order of December 20, 2012 (supra para. 8). Accordingly, on December 26, 2012, the parties and the Commission were advised that the President had decided to suspend the public hearing and the time frames established in the said Order of December 20, 2012. On March 12, 2013, the parties and the Commission were advised of the new time frames for the State to forward its questions to those testifying by affidavit, so that the representatives could forward the said statements, and so that the State could present its observations in this regard. On April 12, 2013, the parties and the Commission were informed that the President had decided to convene the parties to a public hearing on May 21 and 22, 2013. 3 Cf. Case of Gutiérrez and family v. Argentina. Convening of a public hearing. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of December 20, 2012. This order is available at: http://corteidh.or.cr/index.php/en/16-juris/193-convocatorias. 6