3 6. The Commission’s application was notified to the State and to the representatives on May 14, 2007.2 During the proceedings before the Court, in addition to the presentation of the principal briefs forwarded by the parties (supra paras. 1, 4 and 5), and the briefs with arguments concerning the preliminary objections filed by the State, which the representatives and the Commission submitted on October 17 and 18, 2007, respectively, the parties remitted the briefs indicated below. 7. On November 27, 2007, the State forwarded a brief in which: (a) it submitted its observations on the written arguments of the Inter-American Commission and the representatives on the preliminary objections; (b) it submitted its observations on the supervening information offered by the alleged victim as an appendix to his brief with arguments on the preliminary objections; and (c) it offered supervening information regarding the constitutional reform on electoral matters published in the official gazette of November 13, 2007. At the request of the Secretariat of the Court, on the instructions of the President, the Commission and the representatives forwarded their respective observations on the information provided by the State on December 14 and 15, 2007, but only with regard to the constitutional reform of electoral matters. On January 22, 2008, the State forwarded observations on the brief presented by the Inter-American Commission on the constitutional reform. 8. Regarding the offer of testimonial and expert evidence, in addition to the opportune offer made by the Commission and the State, on October 24, 2007, when responding to the Secretariat’s request for submission of the definitive list of witnesses and expert witnesses, the representatives “confirm[ed] the designation of the expert witnesses proposed […] in [their] brief of January 19, 2007, addressed to the Commission, […] which is included as appendix 2 to the application filed […]” by the Commission before the Court. Furthermore, they indicated that “the curriculum vitae of the expert witnesses offered were provided by the Inter-American Commission as an appendix to the application,” and they made no mention in any of these briefs to the purpose of the expert opinions offered. On November 2 and 7, 2007, at the request of the President of the Court, the representatives forwarded the purpose of the expert opinions and the testimony of the alleged victim. 9. In this regard, on November 14, 2007, the State requested the Court to reject “the participation of the persons indicated by [the representatives] as expert witnesses, because the offer does not comply with the requirements […] established in the Rules of Procedure,” and to declare that the testimony of the alleged victim had not been offered within the appropriate time frame and in the correct form; the State also indicated that “the [representatives] had not specified their claims concerning reparations at the appropriate procedural opportunity.” 10. In its Order of November 30, 2007, the Court decided to reject the offer of expert evidence offered by the representatives after the statutory time limit had expired and, of the persons the representatives had offered, to summon only the alleged victim, in the understanding that his testimony was useful for deciding the instant case (infra para. 72). Also, in the said Order of November 30, 2007, the Court convened the Commission, the representatives and the State to a public hearing to receive the testimony of Jorge Castañeda Gutman, proposed by the representatives, and the expert opinion of Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, proposed by the Inter-American Commission, and to hear the final oral 2 On May 11, 2007, the State was advised that it could appoint a judge ad hoc to participate in hearing this case. On May 15, 2007, the Inter-American Commission stated that “the figure of judge ad hoc is not applicable in cases arising from petitions concerning human rights violations submitted by individuals.” On June 8, 2007, the State appointed Claus Werner von Wobeser Hoepfner as judge ad hoc, and the latter accepted the appointment on June 28, 2007.