-630. On March 28, 2006, the Open Society Justice Initiative, ARTICLE 19, the Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, Access Info Europe and Libertad de Información México presented an amici curiae brief. 31. On March 31, 2006, the Impact Litigation Project of the American University Washington College of Law forwarded an amicus curiae brief. 32. On April 3, 2006, a public hearing was held on merits, and possible reparations and costs. There appeared before the Court: (a) for the Inter-American Commission: Evelio Fernández and Santiago A. Canton, delegates; Víctor H. Madrigal Borloz, Lilly Ching, Juan Pablo Albán, Carlos Zelada and Ignacio Álvarez, legal advisers; (b) for the alleged victims: Juan Pablo Olmedo, representative, and Ciro Colombana López, adviser; and (c) for the State of Chile: Amira Esquivel Utreras, Agent; Patricio Aguirre Vacchieri and Virginia Barahona Lara. Also, the witnesses and expert witnesses proposed by the parties (supra para. 23 and infra para. 49). In addition, the Court heard the final arguments of the Commission, the representative, and the State. At the end of the public hearing, the representative submitted a copy of the book entitled “Derechos fundamentales y recursos de protección” by Gastón Gómez Bernales (infra para. 40). 33. On May 18, 2006, the Commission presented its final written arguments on merits reparations, and costs. On May 23, 2006, the Commission presented an appendix to these final arguments. 34. On May 18, 2006, the alleged victims’ representative forwarded his final written arguments; the appendixes were sent the following day. The representative presented “a summary of the results of the access to information survey conducted [by the Open Society Justice Initiative] in 14 countries, including Chile, in 2004,” in relation to the evidence admitted by the Court in its order of February 7, 2006 (supra para. 23). 35. On May 19, 2006, the State presented its final written arguments. 36. On May 23, 2006, the Executive Director of the Open Society Justice Initiative submitted the same document that the alleged victims’ representative had forwarded on May 18, 2006 (supra para. 34). 37. On May 24, 2006, the representative forwarded the Spanish version of the report of the Open Society Justice Initiative, the English version of which had been submitted on March 13, 2006 (supra para. 27). 38. On June 5, 2006, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) presented an amicus curiae brief. 39. On July 5, 2006, on the instructions of the President, the Secretariat requested the Inter-American Commission and the representative to present certain documentation as helpful evidence by July 14, 2006, at the latest. 40. On June 7, 2006, in response to the Secretariat’s request, the representative forwarded two copies of the book entitled “Derechos fundamentales y recursos de protección,” which he had submitted at the end of the public hearing (supra para. 32); these copies were forwarded to the other parties. 41. On July 11, 2006, the Commission remitted the evidence requested in the note of July 5, 2006 (supra para. 39).