C. Position of the State 27. The State contends in its response that the petition submitted is inadmissible pursuant to the provisions of Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, as well as those of Articles 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, and 34 of the Inter-American Commission’s Rules of Procedure. The State affirms that there are seven causes of inadmissibility, which should be examined by the Commission before it begins its analysis of the merits of the case submitted to it. 7 In its observations, the State argues that, of the aforementioned causes of inadmissibility, at least three are applicable to the complaint or report lodged by the petitioners. The State notes that, in addition, there is a fourth cause of inadmissibility which, although it is not provided for by the American Convention or the IACHR’s Rules of Procedure, it has been established by the jurisprudence Commission’s and the Inter-American Court’s: according to the State it is comprised of the fourth instance formula. 28. With respect to the first cause of inadmissibility, the State asserts that the petition was lodged in an untimely fashion, i.e., outside the peremptory six-month time period required by both the Convention and the Commission’s Rules of Procedure. According to the State, Article 46 of the Convention, for a petition or communication to be admitted by the Commission, requires “that the petition or communication is lodged within a period of six months from the date on which the party alleging violation of his rights was notified of the final judgment.” 8 29. According to the State of Chile, in the instant case the petitioners did not inform the IACHR in their initial petition about a basic item of background information that would have allowed the Commission to establish that the petition was not lodged within the six-month time period required by the Convention and the Commission’s Rules of Procedure: this item, the State asserts, is the date of the last court decision handed down within the sequence of domestic remedies accessed by the petitioners. 30. Within this framework, the State of Chile argues that, on September 1, 2004, the petitioners filed, before the Appeals Court of Temuco, a motion to vacate the judgment that found them guilty, handed down by the Tribunal de Juicio Oral [Oral Trial Court] of Angol. The date for the hearing of the case was set for September 23, 2004, and on this same date attorneys of the Office of the Public Defender made their arguments on behalf of the petitioners. 31. According to the State, the judgment hearing of the Appeals Court of Temuco denying the motion to vacate took place on October 13, 2004, and the judgment of the lower court finding the defendants guilty became final. “In other words, the six-month time period required by Article 46 of the Convention and Article 32 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure expired on April 13, 2005; hence, the State asserts, the complaint, filed in September 2005, was clearly untimely.”9 32. The State asserts that it is evident that the petition was lodged approximately one year after the decision was handed down regarding the complainants’ last appeal within the domestic jurisdiction, i.e., it was lodged after the time period had expired, and the Commission should declare it inadmissible. 7 According to the State, the following are causes for inadmissibility: (i) verification of formal requirements, (ii) exhaustion of domestic requirements, (iii) time period for submission of petitions, (iv) duplication of procedures, (v) verification of whether the facts put forward characterize a violation of protected rights ,(vi) Analysis of whether petitions are manifestly groundless or out of order, according to statements of the petitioner or of the State, and (vii) whether or not subsequent information or evidence render the petition inadmissible or out of order.” 8 Article 46(b) of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Cited by the State in a January 16, 2006 communication. 9 In a December 30, 2005 brief submitted by the State and received by the IACHR on January 5, 2006. 5