3 present its brief with requests, arguments and evidence (hereinafter “requests and arguments brief”). 9. On September 27, 2002, the victims’ representatives remitted the requests and arguments brief. 10. On November 1, 2002, the State submitted its brief filing preliminary objections,1 answering the application, and commenting on the requests and arguments brief. 11. On February 19, 2004, the President issued an order in which he requested the Inter-American Commission, pursuant to Article 47(3) of the Rules of Procedure, to arrange for Benjamín Manuel Jerónimo and Eulalio Grave Ramírez to provide their testimony by statements made before notary public (affidavits) and for Luis Rodolfo Ramírez García and José Fernando Moscoso Möller to provide their expert reports by statements made before notary public (affidavits). The President granted a nonextendible period of 20 days from the transmittal of these affidavits for the representatives and the State to forward their comments on the statements and expert reports. The President also convened the Inter-American Commission, the representatives, and the State to a public hearing to be held at the seat of the Court as of April 23, 2004, to hear their arguments on preliminary objections and merits, reparations and costs, and to hear the testimony of Juan Manuel Jerónimo, Narcisa Corazón Jerónimo and Buenaventura Manuel Jerónimo, and the expert reports of Augusto Willemsen-Díaz and Nieves Gómez Dupuis, all proposed by the Commission. In this order, the President also informed the parties that they had until May 24, 2004, to submit their final written arguments. 12. On March 11, 2004, the Commission forwarded the testimonies of Benjamín Manuel Jerónimo and Eulalio Grave Ramírez and the expert reports of Luis Rodolfo Ramírez García and José Fernando Moscoso Möller, all of them provided before notary public (affidavits). On March 12 and 15, 2004, the Secretariat forwarded to the representatives and to the State, respectively, the above statements remitted by the Commission, so that they could present any comments they deemed pertinent. No comments were submitted. 13. On April 21, 2004, the Instituto Comparado de Ciencias Penales en Guatemala [Criminal Sciences Comparative Institute of Guatemala] (ICCPG), the Centro de Estudios sobre Justicia y Participación [Justice and Participation Study Center] (CEJIP) and the Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales [Institute for Criminal Sciences Comparative Studies] (INECIP) submitted an amici curiae brief. 14. On April 23 and 24, 2004, the Court held a public hearing, in two parts. There appeared before it: for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: 1 The preliminary objections filed by the State were: “Failure to exhaust domestic remedies; failure to decide on the State’s position concerning the change in and modification of the contents of the report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that gave rise to the filing of the application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; and generally erroneous interpretation of the acknowledgment made by the State of Guatemala”.