I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND CAUSE OF ACTION 1. The case submitted to the Court. - On January 26, 2018, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Inter-American Commission" or "the Commission") submitted the case of "Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Revolorio, Miguel Ángel López Calo and Aníbal Archila Pérez" v. the Republic of Guatemala (hereinafter "the State of Guatemala," "the Guatemalan State," "the State," or "Guatemala") to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court. According to the Commission, the case relates to a series of violations of due process and freedom from ex post facto laws committed against Mr. Rodríguez Revolorio, Mr. López Calo and Mr. Archila Pérez in the context of criminal proceedings against them for the crime of murder and attempted murder, as well as prison conditions during their confinement. Rodríguez Revolorio, López Calo and Archila Pérez were sentenced to death on May 23, 1996. 2. Proceedings before the Commission. - The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a) Petition. - On July 17 and August 11, 1997,1 the Center for Human Rights Legal Action (hereinafter "the Petitioners") filed the initial petition with the Commission. b) Admissibility Report. - On December 18, 2002, the Commission informed the parties that pursuant to Article 37(3) of the Rules of Procedure then in force, it had decided to defer the admissibility analysis until the debate on the merits. c) Merits Report. - On 5 September 2017, the Commission adopted Admissibility and Merits Report No. 99/17 pursuant to Article 50 of the Convention (hereinafter also "the Admissibility and Merits Report" or "Report No. 99/17"), in which it reached several conclusions,2 and made a number of recommendations to the State. d) Notification to the State. - The Report on Admissibility and Merits was notified to the State on October 27, 2017, granting it a period of two months to report on compliance with the recommendations. The Guatemalan State submitted a brief in which it indicated its willingness to initiate a "friendly settlement". However, the State did not submit any proposal for compliance or any other information indicating that it had made contact with the victims or their representatives. In addition, the State did not request an extension to suspend the time limit of Article 51 of the Convention, as required by Article 46 of the Commission's Rules of Procedure. 3. Submission to the Court. - On January 26, 2018, the Commission submitted to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court all the facts and human rights violations described in Report No. 99/17 "due to the need to obtain justice and reparation".3 On July 17, 1997, the petition was filed in English, and on August 11, 1997, in Spanish. The Commission concluded that the State of Guatemala was responsible for "the violation of the rights to life, to humane treatment, to the freedom from ex post facto laws, to a fair trial and to judicial protection, established in Articles 4(1), 4(2), 5, 8(1), 8(2)(c), 8(2)(h), 9 and 25(1) of the American Convention in relation to the obligations established in Articles 1(1) and 2 of the same instrument, to the detriment of Miguel Ángel Rodríguez Revolorio, Miguel Ángel López Calo and Aníbal Archila Pérez. Likewise, the State failed to comply with the obligations established in Articles 1, 6 and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture. 3 The Commission appointed Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño and Executive Secretary Paulo Abrão as delegates before the Court. It also appointed as legal advisers Ms. Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, then Deputy Executive Secretary, as well as Ms. Silvia Serrano Guzmán and Mr. Christian González Chacón, attorneys of the Executive Secretariat. 1 2 4