5 brief submitted on November 9, 1995, the State had mentioned evidence which it deemed to amply "support its answer to the petition, but neither specified what they were nor produced them." 19. In its brief of January 12, 1996, the State declared that: [it would] submit within the next few days as part of its documentary evidence, a certificate issued by the Second Court of Criminal Investigation of Huehuetenango contain[ing] the judicial proceedings relating to the criminal case No. 542-85, Oficial Tercero, concerning Mr. Nicholas Chapman Blake's violent death, which, of the evidence offered in the Statement of the answer to the Application, [was] the only piece available [at that time] … 20. On January 28, 1996, the President, after consulting the parties pursuant to Article 29(2) of the Rules of Procedure, determined that additional written proceeding were necessary. He therefore granted the Commission two months in which to submit a brief, and the State two months from the date of notification of that brief in which to submit its observations thereon. 21. By Order of February 3, 1996, the President granted the State one additional month in which to submit evidence. In response, on February 29, 1996, Guatemala submitted a brief in which it reported that "it [would] not use the witnesses and experts proposed in its Statement of Negative Answer to the Application." 22. On March 28, 1996, the Commission asked the Court to declare without merit the State's request that "the arguments adduced by the Commission in the petition" be rejected and, accordingly, asked that the judgment be rendered in conformity with the application. On May 28, 1996, the State submitted the brief containing its observations, in which it requested that the Commission's brief be set aside. 23. By Order of July 2, 1996, the Court decided to refuse the State's request that the Commission's brief of March 28, 1996, be disregarded, and consequently "[j]oined both parties' briefs to the file and [decided] to retain them in mind for its consideration in the judgment on the merits." The written proceedings were then closed. 24. On July 2, 1996, the Court rendered a judgment on the preliminary objections in which it declared itself "incompetent to decide on Guatemala's alleged responsibility for the detention and death of Mr. Nicholas Chapman Blake", inasmuch as the "deprivation of Mr. Blake's freedom and his murder had indeed occurred in March, 1985," prior to Guatemala's acceptance of the contentious jurisdiction of the Court. However, the Court decided to continue to hear the case with regard to the results and acts subsequent to March 9, 1987, on which date Guatemala had accepted the competence of the Court. 25. On November 25, 1996, the Commission submitted the following list of witnesses to be summoned by the Court to appear at the public hearing on the merits of the case: Richard R. Blake, Jr., Samuel Blake (Nicholas Blake's brothers); James Elleson (who knew Nicholas Blake and assisted his family in the investigation of the facts); Colonel George Hooker [who served at the Embassy of the United States of America (hereinafter "the United States Embassy") in Guatemala and was involved in the investigation of the events], Justo Victoriano Martínez-Morales (who conducted an investigation into Mr. Nicholas Blake's detention, disappearance and the subsequent concealment of his remains),