4 II PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT 7. The Commission’s application was notified to the representatives and to the State on August 27, 2009, respectively.5 Subsequent to the presentation of the brief of pleadings and motions, the representatives requested information regarding the alleged supervening facts, to which the Commission and State had the opportunity to respond. During the proceedings before this Court, in addition to the presentation of the principal briefs (supra paras. 1, 4, and 5), and others sent by the parties, in an order of April 23, 2010, the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”) ordered the submission of testimony, rendered before a public notary (hereinafter, “affidavit”), the testimony of three witnesses proposed by the Commission and by the representatives, as well as the expert opinions of six expert witnesses proposed by the Commission and by the representatives.6 Moreover, for the sake of procedural efficiency, the President accepted the incorporation of the affidavits of two witnesses and two experts, proposed by the Commission and by the representatives in the present case that were rendered in the case of Fernández Ortega et al. v. México.7 With regards to the aforementioned, the parties had the opportunity to make their observations. Likewise, the President convened the Commission, the representatives, and the State to a public hearing to hear the statement of one of the alleged victims and a testimony, both proposed by the Commission and the representatives; and the expert opinion of one expert witnesses proposed by the representatives, together with the final oral arguments of the parties on the preliminary objection and the merits, reparations, and costs.8 Within the cited public hearing, and given the circumstances of this case, Mrs. Rosendo Cantu gave her testimony in private.9 8. The public hearing was held on May 27, 2010, during the Court’s LXXXVII Regular Period of Sessions of the Court.10 5 On October 5, 2009, the State appointed Alejandro Carlos Espinosa as Judge Ad hoc. 6 Cf. Case of Rosendo Cantú et al. v. Mexico. Summons to a Public Hearing, Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on April 23, 2010, Operative Paragraph 1. 7 Cf. Case of Rosendo Cantú et al. v. Mexico. Summons to a Public Hearing, supra note 6, Operative Paragraph 1. 8 Cf. Case of Rosendo Cantú et al. v. Mexico. Summons to a Public Hearing, supra note 6, Operative Paragraph 5. 9 Cf. Case of Rosendo Cantú et al. v. Mexico. Summons to a Public Hearing, supra note 6, Considering Clause 13. 10 At this hearing, there appeared: a) for the Inter-American Commission: María Silvia Guillén, Commissioner; Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Lilly Ching and Fiorella Melzi, legal advisors; b) For the representatives: Abel Barrera Hernández, Vidulfo Rosales Sierra, Alejandro Ramos Gallegos, Jorge Santiago Aguirre Espinosa, Alejandra González Marín, Cristina Hardaga Fernández, Mario Ernesto Patrón Sánchez, and Stephanie Erin Brewer, de Tlachinollan, and Alejandra Nuño, Gisela De León, Agustín Martin, and Luis Carlos Buob, of CEJIL, and c) for the State: Armando Vivanco Castellanos, Deputy Director General of Cases, Democracy, and Human Rights of the General Office of Human Rights and Democracy of the Secretariat of Foreign Relations; José Antonio Guevara Bermúdez, Head of the Unit of Promotion and Defense of Human Rights of the Ministry of the Interior, Faustino Esmir Balanzar Sagrero, Director of de Health Services for the Secretariat of Health of the State of Guerrero; Guadalupe Salas and Villaseñor, Deputy Director of Cultural Promotion of Non-violence Against Women of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic; Rogelio Rodríguez Correa, Deputy Director for International Affairs of the General Office for Human Rights of the Secretariat of National Defense; Carlos Mercado Casillas, Deputy Director General of the Promotion of Human Rights of Women and the Strengthening of the Social Fabric of the National Commission to Prevent and Erradicate Violence against Women of the Secretariat of the Interior; María de la Luz Reyes Ríos, Director General of the Ombudsman Service of the General Secretariat of the government of the state of Guerrero; José Ignacio Martín del Campo Covarrubias, Director of International Litigation on matters relating to human rights of the Secretariat for Foreign Affairs; Katya Vera Morales, Head of International Litigation on matters relating to human rights of the Secretariat for Foreign Affairs; Luis Manuel Jardón Piña, Head of the Litigation Department of the Legal Office of Chancellery; Zadalinda González and Reynero, Agent of the State; Carlos Garduño Salinas, Deputy Director of Investigation and Attention to Cases