13. Final written arguments and observations. On July 16, 2021, the State, the Commission, and the representatives presented their final written arguments, with annexed documentation. 14. Observations on the annexures to final arguments. On August 2, 2021, the representatives forwarded their observations on the annexes forwarded with the final written arguments of the State. On August 3, 2021, the Commission reported that it had no observations to make regarding the documents added by the State. The State did not present observations. 15. Alleged supervening facts. On August 5, 2021, the representatives reported on a communication from a state media outlet, in which it "officially and publicly issued an 'apology' regarding the attacks on the media that took place from 2008 to 2021," requesting its inclusion in the case file. On August 17, 2021, the Commission presented its observations regarding the information presented by the representatives, and the State requested that the video presented by the representatives be excluded from the body of evidence in the case. 16. Deliberation of this case. The Court deliberated this Judgment in virtual sessions on November 22, 23 and 24, 2021. 23 III JURISDICTION 17. The Inter-American Court is competent to hear this case pursuant to Article 62(3) of the American Convention, given that Ecuador is a State Party of said instrument since December 28, 1977, and accepted the contentious jurisdiction of the Court on July 24, 1984. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITY A. The State’s partial acknowledgment of responsibility and observations of the representatives and the Commission 18. The State declared, in its answering brief, that “it partially acknowledges the facts set forth in the submission brief of the Inter-American Commission, as well as the [pleadings and motions brief] of the representatives.” It stated that the acknowledgment is partial because “it covers solely and exclusively the facts related to the criminal proceedings for the crime of libel that was brought against [the alleged victims], as well as the facts related to the constitutional action for precautionary measures filed before the Eleventh Court for Children and Adolescents of Guayas in August 2011, as it is directly linked to the former.” In this way, the State indicated that “the acknowledgment excludes all the context and circumstances unrelated to said processes and time frame, referred to both in the submission of the case by the Inter-American Commission and in the [pleadings and motions brief] of the representatives.” 23 Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this judgment was deliberated and approved during the 145th Regular Session, held using media communication technology, in accordance with the provisions of the Court’s Rules of Procedure. 8