7 18. This Court considers that the petition submitted by the Inter-American Commission does not seek to review the judgment of the Supreme Court of Guatemala, but seeks a pronouncement that the State violated several precepts of the American Convention through the death of the aforementioned persons, which it imputes to members of the police force of that State, and that the State is therefore responsible. 19. Consequently, and as the Commission affirmed in its reply to the brief on preliminary objections, it is a question that concerns the merits of the case; hence the Court considers that the objection is not preliminary, but rather a question directly linked to the merits of the controversy. 20. The Court therefore considers that this preliminary objection should be dismissed as inadmissible. VI Now, therefore, THE COURT, DECIDES: unanimously, 1. To dismiss as inadmissible the preliminary objection brought by the State of Guatemala. 2. To continue to examine the case. Done in Spanish and English, the Spanish text being authentic, in San José, Costa Rica, on this eleventh day of September, 1997. Héctor Fix-Zamudio President