occurred for the first time on August 3, 2021, that is, after the procedural moments established in article 40(2) of the Rules of Procedure. It is therefore admissible. B. Admission of expert statements and evidence 39. This Court deems it pertinent to admit the statements made before notary public 45 and at a public hearing 46 to the extent that they adhere to the purpose that was defined by the Presidency in the Resolution through which it ordered their receipt and the purpose of this case. 47 The Court notes that the State made considerations in its final written arguments regarding the expert opinions of Fausto Ortiz, Juan José Fabre Plaza, Manuel García, and Toby Mendel, which refer to their evidential value, not to the admissibility of the evidence. Consequently, the Court will take into account the observations made by Ecuador in consideration of the assessment of the evidence. VI FACTS 40. Taking into consideration the scope of the State's acknowledgment of responsibility, the Court will present the facts of the case in the following order: a) context; b) regarding Emilio Palacio Urrutia, Nicolás Pérez Lapentti, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, and Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga; c) the article “NO to lies”; d) the judicial process for “serious slanderous insult against authority”, and e) other facts related to the case. A. Context 41. El Universo newspaper was founded on September 16, 1921, as a newspaper printed and published in Guayaquil. It currently has an average print run of 100,000 copies daily, and a readership of 23 million monthly visits, that is, an average of 1.4 million daily visits to its website. 48 The importance of this newspaper has been reflected in the various awards it has received for its journalism in Ecuador. 49 42. During the government presided over by the then President, Rafael Correa Delgado, who held the presidency of Ecuador from January 15, 2007, to May 24, 2017, El Universo newspaper and its journalists were subjected to formal and verbal accusations by government officials, including the then President. 50 These accusations were made in the framework of what the then President described as a response to several years of a "systematic and organized attack by, among other economic groups, the El Universo limited company, which through its digital and written media initiated Statements given by Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti and Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga; witness statements given by Leonardo Terán Parral, Gustavo Cortéz Galecio, Sugey Hajjar Sánchez, and Mindy de Palacio; expert opinions given by Fausto Ortiz de la Cadena, Manuel García, Juan José Fabre Plaza, Mauricio Santiago Sosa Chiriboga, Gloria Paulina Serrano Ojeda, and Marina Brilman. 45 46 Statements given by Emilio Palacio Urrutia and César Enrique Pérez Barriga at the public hearing held on June 14 and 15, 2020, and expert opinions given by Juan Pablo Albán and Toby Daniel Mendel at the same hearing. 47 The purposes of the statements are established in the order of the President of the Court of April 12, 2021. Cf. Web page of El Universo newspaper, ¿Who are we? available at https://www.eluniverso.com/quienessomos/historia/ 48 49 Cf. List of acknowledgements made to El Universo newspaper (evidence file, folios 4417 to 4423). Cf. Statements of the President of the Republic regarding El Universo newspaper and its journalists (evidence file, folios 4427 to 4478). 50 16