this Order, the President required that the statements of forty-five presumed victims, six witnesses and six expert witnesses be received by affidavit, and these were presented by the parties and the Commission on November 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10, 2013. 9 The representatives and the State were given the opportunity to pose questions to the deponents offered by the other party and to make observations. In addition, in the said Order, three presumed victims, three witnesses, one deponent for information purposes, and two expert witnesses were summoned to testify during the public hearing on the eventual merits. 10 12. Partial acknowledgement of responsibility. On October 17 and November 10, 2013, the State forwarded briefs to the Court in which it made a partial acknowledgement of responsibility with regard to the violations alleged by the Commission and the representatives in this case. This partial acknowledgement was repeated during the public hearings held in this case, and the State clarified its scope in a brief of December 2, 2013, and in its final written arguments (infra para. 15). 13. Public hearings. The public hearings took place on November 12 and 13, 2013, during the forty-third special session of the Court, held in Brasilia, Brazil.11 The statements of three presumed victims, two witnesses, one deponent for information purposes, and two expert witnesses were received at the hearing, together with the final oral arguments of the parties and the final oral observations of the Inter-American Commission. 12 During these hearings the parties submitted certain documents and the judges of the Court requested specific information and explanations. 14. Amici curiae. The Court received amicus curiae briefs submitted by the Pax Romana International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (ICMICA) 13 on October 17 and November 28, 2013, the American Bar Association 14 on October 8, 2013, the Colombian Association of Retired Military Officers (ACORE) on November 11 and 12, 2013, 15 9 In notes of the Secretariat of October 29 and November 6, 2013, the Inter-American Commission and the State, respectively, were granted an extension of the deadline, until November 10, 2013, to present the affidavits of Carlos Castresana and Carlos Delgado Romero 10 On October 9, 2013, prior to the issue of the Order of October 16, 2013, the State presented a brief to the Court withdrawing twelve of the statements it had offered originally in its answering brief: three expert opinions and nine testimonial statements. In his Order of October 16, 2013, the acting President at the time took note of these withdrawals (supra nota 8). 11 There appeared at these hearings: (a) for the Inter-American Commission: José de Jesús Orozco Henríquez, President of the Inter-American Commission, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Silvia Serrano Guzmán, Adviser to the Executive Secretariat of the Commission; (b) for the presumed victims: Rafael Barrios Mendivil, Jomary Ortegón and Angie Fernández of the Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (CCAJAR); Jorge Molano and Germán Romero, private lawyers; Danilo Rueda, Liliana Ávila and Father Alberto Franco of the Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, and Viviana Krsticevic and Alejandra Vicente of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), and (c) for the State: Miguel Samper, Vice Minister of Justice; María Consuelo Rodríguez, Head of Cabinet of the Ministry of Defense; Martha Lucía Zamora, from the Prosecutor General’s Office; Adriana Guillén Arango, Director of the National Agency for the Legal Defense of the State; Julio Andrés Sampedro Arrubla, Agent; Juan David Riveros Barragán, Deputy Agent; Juana Inés Acosta López, Adviser to the National Agency for the Legal Defense of the State; Camilo Vela Valenzuela, Adviser to the National Agency for the Legal Defense of the State, and Javier Coronado, lawyer. 12 In his Order of October 16, 2013, the President summoned María Nelfi Díaz, witness proposed by the State, to testify at the public hearing on the merits. However, Ms. Nelfi Díaz did not attend this hearing. The State advised that, despite its “repeated requests,” Ms. Nelfi Díaz had not answered its summons to testify. 13 The brief was submitted by Eugenio Gay Montalvo, President of this organization. 14 The brief was signed by James R. Silkenat, President of this organization, and by Barry Sullivan, Emmanuel Daoud and Safya Akorri, as consultant lawyers. 15 The brief was submitted by Hilda Lorena Leal Castaño on behalf of this organization. In addition, the National Committee of Victims of the Guerrilla (VIDA) and the Association of Civilian Victims of the Colombian Guerrilla “contributed” to the brief. 8