B. Admissibility Requirements 1. Exhaustion of Domestic Remedies 22. Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention provides that, in order for a petition submitted to the Inter-American Commission pursuant to Article 44 of the same Convention to be admissible, it is necessary that domestic remedies have been invoked and exhausted in keeping with generally recognized principles of international law. This requirement is designed to allow national authorities to examine the alleged violation of a right protected and, if appropriate, to have the opportunity to resolve them before they are taken up by an international proceeding. 23. The Commission notes that the petitioners denounced several violations of the American Convention in the frame of criminal proceedings that ended with the death penalty sentence. The information available shows that after the conviction was rendered they submitted an appeal, a cassation appeal and a request for presidential pardon, which were dismissed. 24. In addition, there is no controversy about the exhaustion of domestic remedies and the State acknowledged that all the “ordinary and extraordinary” remedies were exhausted and there were no other remedies available. 25. Therefore, the Commission concludes that the requirement to exhaust domestic remedies established in Article 46(1)(a) of the American Convention is satisfied. 2. Timeliness of the petition 26. Article 46(1)(b) of the Convention establishes that, for the petition to be declared admissible, it must be lodged within six months from the date on which the interested party was notified of the final decision that exhausted remedies in the domestic jurisdiction. 27. The Commission notes that in the instant case, the pardon requested to the President of the Republic was dismissed on July 17, 1996 and the petition was lodged on August 14, 1996. The petitioners filed a writ of amparo against that decision before the Constitutional Court, which was dismissed on August 9, 1996. The petition was filed before the IACHR on August 14, 1996. 28. The Commission considers that the request for pardon or clemency is not a remedy for which exhaustion is required. This, taking into account that it is not properly a judicial remedy, but a discretionary power of the President of the Republic of Guatemala. In addition, the effect of a favorable decision would have been the commutation of the death sentence but that did not necessarily amount to a remedy of the alleged violation of due process guarantees. Without detriment of the above-mentioned, the Commission notes that the request for clemency was indeed submitted by the alleged victims. Since it was the last resort tried and given that it was provided for by domestic law, it corresponds to take the date it was dismissed into account when considering the deadline for submission of a petition in a timely manner. 29. In view of the above, the Commission concludes that the petition met the deadline for six months provided for in Article 46(1)(b) of the American Convention. 3. Duplication of proceedings and international res judicata 30. Article 46(1)(c) of the Convention provides that the admission of a petition is subject to the requirement that “the subject of the petition is not pending in another international proceeding for settlement.” Article 47(d) of the Convention establishes that the Commission shall consider inadmissible any petition that is “substantially the same as one previously studied by the Commission or by another international organization.” In the instant case, the parties have not argued the existence of either of those circumstances, nor can they be deducted from the record. 4