8 23. In a communication received by the Court on July 20, 1999, Bolivia appointed Gastón Ríos Anaya as its agent. On July 22, 1999, the State rectified its previous communication and advised that it was appointing Gastón Ríos Anaya as judge ad hoc and Fabián Volio Echeverría as agent. On July 27, 1999, Bolivia submitted Mr. Ríos Anaya’s curriculum vitae. 24. On August 20, 1999, on the President’s instructions, the Secretariat sent a note to Gastón Ríos Anaya, informing him that it had observed from his curriculum vitae that, at that time, he was Legal Advisor to the Ministry of the Presidency of the Republic. Accordingly, based on Articles 18 and 19 of the Statute of the Court (hereinafter “the Statute”), in order to ensure the transparency of the proceeding and pursuant to the Statute, it requested him to advise whether, due to the exercise of this position, he was a member or official of the executive branch of government, and whether he was subject to any kind of hierarchical subordination within the executive branch. 25. On August 26, 1999, Mr. Ríos Anaya sent a communication in which he indicated that he had performed the function of Legal Advisor to the Ministry of the Presidency of the Republic until the first quarter of 1998 and that, at that time, he was not “subject to any kind of hierarchical subordination within the executive branch”; he attached a certification confirming this fact. He also stated that “he ha[d] no incompatibility, impediment or disqualification for the position.” 26. On September 7, 1999, Bolivia presented a brief in which it indicated that Gastón Ríos Anaya had resigned as judge ad hoc and that Charles N. Brower had been appointed to replace him. 27. On September 8, 1999, the State submitted its brief with preliminary objections. 28. On September 9, 1999, the State transmitted a copy of Charles N. Brower’s curriculum vitae. 29. On October 5, 1999, Charles N. Brower forwarded the record of the sworn declaration with his acceptance of the position of judge ad hoc in the instant case. 30. On November 9, 1999, Bolivia presented a brief as “evidence of progress in the judicial investigation opened in order to clarify the Trujillo Oroza Case.” 31. On November 22, 1999, the Commission submitted its brief with observations on the State’s preliminary objections. 32. On December 6, 1999, the President of the Court invited the State and the Commission to a public hearing on the preliminary objections, which was held on January 25, 2000, at the seat of the Court. At that time, the declaration of a witness offered by the State would also be heard. 33. In a brief of January 21, 2000, the State indicated that “it had decided to withdraw the preliminary objections to [the] application that it had filed, because the Government of the Republic wished to reach a friendly settlement with the victim’s next of kin.” It also requested the Court to pronounce judgment in order to “conclude this stage and open the reparations stage.”