PRIOR CONSIDERATIONS A Alleged victims 25. In the application, the Inter-American Commission indicated that it “made the Court aware [...] that in keeping with its constant practice, at the time the [R]eport [on admissibility and the merits] was approved, it referred generally to Pedro Miguel Vera Vera's next of kin and mentioned the individuals whose names were found in the case file at the time a decision was made.” Those individuals were Pedro Miguel Vera Vera and his mother, Francisca Mercedes Vera. However, after the report was approved, “according to practice at that time, the petitioners informed the Commission of other relatives,” those being Agustín Abraham Vera Vera, Patricio Rubén Vargas Vera, and Johanna Vargas Vera, as well as Francisco Rubén Vargas Balcázar, siblings and stepfather of Pedro Miguel Vera Vera, respectively. The Commission indicated that for this reason, “it include[d] the names of [those] individuals in the [application].” 26. In its final written arguments, the Commission reiterated the foregoing and indicated that “the sworn statements submitted by the representatives regarding the next of kin corroborate[d] their status as victims in the present case.” Likewise, it mentioned that “the report on admissibility and merits [...] was approved under a process of adaptation of the practices of the Commission to the changes in the practice of the Court on the inclusion of family members as victims.” It agued that “the Tribunal should weigh the fact that at the time it changed its criteria in this regard, the practices and regulations of the Commission were still applicable. Under these practices, the proper procedural moment for the submission of all of the affected family members was subsequent to the issuance of the merits report. In that understanding, the petitioners in the present case provided complete information on this point through the brief mentioned in Article 43(3) of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure then in force.” Finally, the Commission "highlight[ed] that the State of Ecuador [could have] exercise[d] its right of defense on the inclusion of family members named in the application, both in its answer and at the public hearing. 27. The Tribunal notes that the admissibility and merits report of the Inter-American Commission only indicates Pedro Miguel Vera Vera and Francisca Mercedes Vera as victims. It likewise observes that in the application, in addition to those individuals, the Commission also presented Agustín Abraham Vera Vera, Patricio Rubén Vargas Vera, Johanna Vargas Vera, and Francisco Rubén Vargas Balcázar as victims. Those individuals are also indicated as victims by the representative in the brief of pleadings and motions. 28. In that regard, the Court recalls that in since 2007, 16 its jurisprudence has repeatedly established that alleged victims must be indicated in the 16 Since the Case of García Prieto et al. V. El Salvador. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 20, 2007. Series C No. 168, paras. 65 to 68, and the Case of Chaparro Álvarez and Lapo Íñiguez V. Ecuador. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of November 21, 2007. Series C No. 170, paras. 224 to 225. These judgments were adoped by the Court during hte same period of sessions, See also, Case of 12

Select target paragraph3