4
Court, in addition to the presentation of the principal briefs (supra paras. 1, 4, and
5), and others sent by the parties, in an order of March 12, 2010, the President of
the Court (hereinafter “the President”) required that the testimony of three alleged
victims and four witnesses proposed by the Commission and by the
representatives, as well as the expert reports of five expert witnesses proposed by
the Commission and by the representatives, be received by means of statements
made before public notary (hereinafter also affidavit). The parties were able to
submit observations on these documents. Furthermore, the President convened the
Commission, the representatives, and the State to a public hearing to hear the
expert opinions of three expert witnesses proposed by the Commission and the
representatives, together with the final oral arguments of the parties on the
preliminary objection and the merits, reparations, and costs.6
8.
The public hearing was held on April 15, 2010, during the Court’s XLI
Extraordinary Period of Sessions, held in Lima, Peru.7
9.
In addition, the Court received eight amicus curiae briefs from the following
persons and institutions: i) three students of the Graduate Studies Department of
the Law School of the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), concerning the
right of access to justice of the indigenous population in the state of Guerrero and
the military criminal jurisdiction;8 ii) the Public Interest Clinic of the Centro de
Investigación y Docencia Económicas de la Ciudad de México and Women’s Link
Worldwide of Bogotá, Colombia, concerning international jurisprudence on sexual
violence as a form of torture, and integral reparation of the damage to rape
victims;9 iii) the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), on the scientific
procedures and on the attention provided to women rape victims by State bodies,
in relation to the present case;10 iv) the Center for Human Rights Studies of the
6
Cf. Fernández Ortega et al. v. Mexico. Summons to a public hearing. Order of the President of
the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of March 12, 2010, First, Fourth and Tenth Operative
Paragraphs.
7
At this hearing, there appeared: a) for the Inter-American Commission: Rodrigo Escobar Gil,
Commissioner, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Lilly Ching, Fiorella Melzi and
Federico Guzmán, legal advisers; b) for the representatives: Abel Barrera Hernández, Vidulfo Rosales
Sierra, Alejandro Ramos Gallegos and Jorge Santiago Aguirre Espinosa (Tlachinollan lawyers), and Gisela
De León and Agustín Martin (CEJIL lawyers), and c) for the State: Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo,
Assistant Secretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights of the Secretariat for Foreign Affairs;
Alejandro Negrín Muñoz, Director General of Human Rights and Democracy of the Secretariat for Foreign
Affairs; Rogelio Rodríguez Correa, Deputy Director for International Affairs of the Directorate General of
Human Rights of the National Defense Secretariat; Yéssica de Lamadrid Téllez, Director General for
International Cooperation of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic; Carlos Garduño Salinas,
Deputy Director General of the Unit for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights of the Secretariat of
the Interior; Jorge Cicero Fernández, Head of Chancery of Mexico in Peru; Rosa María Gómez Saavedra,
Secretary for Women’s Affairs of the state of Guerrero; María de la Luz Reyes Ríos, Director General of
the Ombudsman Service of the General Secretariat of the government of the state of Guerrero; José
Ignacio Martín del Campo Covarrubias, Director of International Litigation on matters relating to human
rights of the Secretariat for Foreign Affairs; Luis Manuel Jardón Piña, Head of the Litigation Department
of the Legal Office of Chancellery; Katya Vera, Head of International Litigation on matters relating to
human rights of the Secretariat for Foreign Affairs, and Guadalupe Salas y Villagomez, Deputy Director
General for Policy of the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes of Violence against Women and
Human Trafficking.
8
The original brief was received by the Secretariat of the Court on April 30, 2010, and is signed
by Miguel Ángel Antemate Mendoza, Julio César Hernández Salmorán and Carlos Alejandro Martiarena
Leonar. A copy of the brief was received on April 28, 2010.
9
The original brief was received by the Secretariat of the Court on May 6, 2010, and is signed by
Gail Aguilar Castañón, Javier Cruz Angulo Nobara, Alejandro Madrazo Lajous, Anel Alejandra Valadez
Murillo and Víctor Daniel Gutiérrez Muñoz, lawyer, Director, Coordinator of the Area of Sexual and
Reproductive Rights, and members, respectively, of the Public Interest Clinic, as well as Katherine
Romero and Andrea Parra, lawyer for Latin America, and lawyer, Coordinator of the Gender and Justice
Observatory of Women’s Link Worldwide, respectively. A copy of the brief was received on April 30,
2010.
10
The original brief was received by the Secretariat of the Court on May 6, 2010, and is signed by
Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, Mercedes Doretti and Sofía Egaña, Legal Consultant and members,