5 9. Observations on the preliminary objection. On October 4 and 16, 2018, the Commission and the representatives, respectively, forwarded their observations on the preliminary objection filed by the State, and asked the Court to reject it. 10. Final written procedure. Having examined the principal briefs presented by the Commission and by the parties, and in light of the provisions of Articles 15, 45 and 50(1) of the Court’s Rules of Procedure, the President, in consultation with the full Court, decided that it was not necessary to call for a public hearing based on the circumstances of the case and in the absence of a factual dispute. This decision was communicated by an order of the President dated February 14, 2019.4 In this order, the President also required that the statements of two deponents, one witness and four expert witnesses offered by the representatives, and a joint expert opinion proposed by the Commission and the representatives, be received by affidavit.5 In addition, he decided the financial assistance that would be provided by the Court’s Legal Assistance Fund. Following an extension of the time limit at the request of the representatives, the affidavits were received on March 6, 7 and 11, 2019. On March 18, 2019, the affidavit with the joint opinion proposed by the Commission was received. 11. Final written observations and arguments. On April 8, 2019, the Commission presented its final written observations and, on April 12, 2019, the representatives and the State forwarded their respective final written arguments. 12. Disbursements from the Legal Assistance Fund. On August 23, 2019, on the instructions of the President of the Court, the Inter-American Court’s Secretariat forwarded information to the State on the disbursements made from the Fund in this case and, in keeping with Article 5 of the Rules for the Operation of the Legal Assistance Fund of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, it granted the State a time frame for presenting any observations it deemed pertinent. The State presented its observations on September 2, 2019. 13. Deliberation of the case. The Court began deliberating this judgment on October 15, 2019. III JURISDICTION 14. The Inter-American Court has jurisdiction to hear this case under the provisions of Article 62(3) of the American Convention because Guatemala has been a State Party to the American Convention since May 25, 1978, and accepted the contentious jurisdiction of the Court on March 9, 1987. IV PRELIMINARY OBJECTION A. Preliminary objection of res judicata Cf. Case of Girón et al. v. Guatemala. Order of the President of the Court of February 14, 2019. Available at: http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/asuntos/gironcastillo_14_02_19.pdf. Following a request by the representatives, in a communication of February 21, 2019, the Court granted an extension of the time limit for presenting the affidavits until March 11, 2019. On March 4, 2019, the President of the Court issued an order in which he agreed to a request by the 5 Commission to change the method for the presentation of the joint expert opinion of Parvais Jabbar and Edward Fitzgerald. This opinion was also offered in the cases of Ruiz Fuentes, and Martínez Coronado, both against Guatemala. An extension was granted until March 18, 2019, for its presentation by affidavit. Available at: http://www.corteidh.or.cr/docs/asuntos/ruizfuentes_mart%C3%ADnezcoronado_gir%C3%B3nyotro_valenzuela%C 3%A1vila_rodr%C3%ADguezrevolorioyotros_04_03_19.pdf. 4