I INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND CAUSE OF ACTION 1. The case submitted to the Court. On December 4, 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter also “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court the case of “Gabriel Sales Pimenta” against the Federative Republic of Brazil (hereinafter “the State” or “Brazil”). According to the Commission, the dispute concerns whether Brazil bears international responsibility for an alleged situation of impunity regarding the death of Gabriel Sales Pimenta, attorney for the Marabá Rural Workers Union. Due to the nature of his work, the alleged victim had received several death threats, which prompted him to seek state protection on multiple occasions at the Department of Public Security in Belém, in the state of Pará. He was ultimately killed on July 18, 1982. According to the Commission, the death occurred in the context of violence related to demands for land and agrarian reform in Brazil. The Commission concluded that the investigation into the death of Gabriel Sales Pimenta, which ended in 2006 with a decision that the statute of limitations had expired, was hobbled by failures of the State. The Commission established that the authorities did not act with due diligence or within a reasonable time frame. It also concluded that Brazil violated the right to personal integrity of Gabriel Sales Pimenta’s family. The Commission therefore found the State responsible for violating the rights to personal integrity, judicial guarantees, and judicial protection established in Articles 5(1), 8(1), and 25(1) of the American Convention, in conjunction with the obligations contained in Article 1(1), to the detriment of the family members of Gabriel Sales Pimenta specified in Merits Report No. 144/19 (hereinafter “Merits Report” or “Report No. 144/19”). 2. Procedure before the Commission. The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a) Petition. On November 9, 2006, the Pastoral Land Commission and the Center for Justice and International Law submitted the initial petition before the Commission. b) Admissibility report. On October 17, 2008, the Commission approved Admissibility Report No. 73/08, of which the parties were notified on December 15, 2008. c) Merits report. On September 28, 2019, the Commission approved the Merits Report, in which it detailed a series of conclusions and made certain recommendations to the State. d) Notification to the State. The State was notified of the Merits Report on December 4, 2019, and given two months to report back on its compliance with recommendations made. The Commission granted the State three extensions. On November 20, 2020, Brazil requested a fourth extension. In assessing that request, the Commission indicated that over the course of almost a year since the notification of the Merits Report, the State had maintained that reopening the criminal investigation would be infeasible and it had still not presented a proposal for specific compensation. Thus, the Commission did not observe any compliance with the recommendations or substantive progress toward compliance. 3. Submission to the Court. On December 4, 2020, the Commission submitted to the Court “the events that began or continued after” the date of Brazil's ratification of the American Convention, “bearing in mind the need to achieve justice and reparations for the [alleged] victims.” 1 This Court notes with concern that over 14 years passed between the presentation of the initial petition to the Commission and the submission of the case to the Court. The Commission appointed as its delegate to the Court then-President of the Commission, Commissioner Joel Hernández, and it appointed as legal advisors then-Assistant Executive Registrar Marisol Blanchard Vera and current Assistant Executive Registrar Jorge Meza Flores. 1 4