protection had been violated. 2. Procedure before the Commission. – The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a) Petition. – On January 22, 2004, Olimpiades González and María Angélica González, lodged the initial petition.1 b) Admissibility Report. – On October 19, 2011, the Commission adopted Admissibility Report No. 121/11, in which it found the petition admissible. c) Merits Report. – On October 5, 2018, the Commission adopted Merits Report No. 117/18 (hereinafter also “Merits Report”), in which it reached a series of conclusions2 and made several recommendations to the State. d) Notification to the State. – The Merits Report was notified to the State by communication of November 8, 2018. The Commission granted Venezuela two months to report on compliance with the recommendations contained in the Report. It later granted two extensions to the State. As the Commission noted, “the State did not request a new extension nor did it present a report on the current status of compliance with the recommendations.” 3. Submission to the Court. – On August 8, 2019, the Commission submitted to the Court “all of the facts and human rights violations” of the case. It indicated that it did so “because of the need to obtain justice and reparation.”3 The Court notes, with concern, that more than 15 years had elapsed between the lodging of the initial petition before the Commission and the submission of the case to the Court. 4. Requests of the Commission. – The Commission requested that the Court conclude and declare the international responsibility of Venezuela for the violations contained in its Merits Report No. 117/18 and that it order that the State implement the measures of reparation included in the Report (infra Chapter VIII). II PROCEDURE BEFORE THE COURT 5. Suspension of the proceedings. - After the Commission submitted the case to the Court, its Secretariat, on August 30, 2019, attempted to contact the alleged victims on the basis of the information provided by the Commission in order to request that they inform on their legal representation.4 It was, however, not possible to contact them. On October 8, 2019, the Commission was requested to provide further information on the 1 The Commission later indicated that María Antonia González and Dan William Barliza González were petitioners. Olimpiades González died on December 11, 2006 (infra para. 78). The Commission concluded that the State was responsible for the violation of the following articles of the American Convention: 4(1) (Right to Life); 5(1) and 5(4) (Right to Humane Treatment); 7(1), 7(2), 7(3), 7(5) and 7(6) (Right to Personal Liberty); 8(1) and 8(2) (Right to a Fair Trial) and 25(1) (Right to Judicial Protection), in relation to the obligations established in Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof. 2 The Commission appointed, as its delegates before the Court, the then Commissioner Francisco Eguiguren Praeli; the then Executive Secretary Paulo Abrão, and Erick Acuña Pereda, as legal advisor. 3 4 This communication was repeated on September 13 and 24, 2019. 4