II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT 5. Notification to the State and to the representatives. – The representatives and the State were notified on June 17, 2021, that the case had been submitted. 6. Brief with pleadings, motions and evidence. – On August 16, 2021, the representatives filed their brief of pleadings, motions and evidence (hereinafter “pleadings and motions brief”), pursuant to Articles 25 and 40 of the Rules of Procedure. The representatives agreed with the substance of the Commission’s claims and argued further that Mr. Aguinaga Aillón’s right to participate in government had been violated; they asked that Ecuador be ordered to adopt several measures of redress in addition to those requested by the Commission. 7. Brief of the preliminary objection and reply. – The State submitted its brief with a preliminary objection and its reply to the submission of the case, the Report on the Merits, and the pleadings and motions brief (hereinafter “answering brief”) on November 17, 2021, under the provisions of Article 41 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure.4 8. Comments on the preliminary objection. – The representatives and the InterAmerican Commission lodged their comments on the preliminary objection on January 20, 2022. 9. Public hearing. – The President of the Court issued an order on July 19, 2022, summoning the parties and the Commission to a public hearing on the preliminary objection and possible merits, reparations, and costs, and to hear the parties’ final oral arguments and the Commission’s observations.5 The public hearing was held via videoconference, in keeping with the Court’s Rules of Procedure, on September 8, 2022, during the Court’s 151st session.6 In the public hearing, the State offered a partial recognition of responsibility and retracted the preliminary objection it had raised in its answering brief (infra para. 14). 10. Final written arguments and observations. – The parties submitted their final written arguments, and the Commission, its final written observations, on October 7, 2022. The State submitted annexes along with its final written arguments. 11. Observations on the annexes to the final arguments. - The representatives delivered their observations on the annexes to the State’s final written arguments on October 27, 2022. The Commission reported on the same day that it had no comments on the annexes to the State’s final written arguments. 4 The State named María Fernanda Álvarez Alcívar, Fernanda Narváez, Carlos Espín Arias and Alonso Fonseca Garcés as its agents in the case. 5 Cf. Case of Aguinaga Aillón v. Ecuador. Notice of hearing. Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, July 19, 2022. Available in Spanish at: https://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/asuntos/aguinaga_aillon_19_07_22.pdf 6 Present at the hearing were: (a) for the Inter-American Commission: Jorge Meza Flores and Karin Mansel; (b) for the representatives: Mario Melo Cevallos, Sofía Pazmiño Yáñez and Cristina Melo, and (c) for the State: María Fernanda Álvarez Alcívar, Carlos Espín Arias, Amparo Esparza Paula and Alonso Fonseca Garcés. 4