17 the Republic rejecting the operations of the current Supreme Court of Justice.” Consequently, the President of the Republic decreed: Art. 2. Given the express mandate and sovereign will of the Ecuadorian people and in compliance with the State’s duty of recognizing and ensuring the right to legal security enshrined in Art. 23, section 26, of the Constitution of the Republic, the justices of the current Supreme Court of Justice, appointed by means of Resolution 25-181 of December 8, 2004, are hereby terminated in their functions. 48 66. The same Executive Decree also declared a state of emergency in the city of Quito. 49 The following day, April 16, 2005, the President of the Republic issued Executive Decree No. 2754, stating that “the cause of the domestic unrest and turmoil in the city of Quito created by the crisis in the Supreme Court of Justice has been overcome” and consequently declaring “an end to the state of emergency in the Metropolitan District of Quito, province of Pichincha.” 50 67. At the same time, on April 17, 2005, Congress voided the resolution of December 8, 2004, regarding the appointment of the new Supreme Court of Justice. It did not, however, order the reinstatement of the justices who had been removed from office. 51 68. All this increased the “rising wave of tension and violence, particularly in the capital,” as a result of which on April 20, 2005, Congress declared that President Lucio Gutiérrez had abandoned his duties. Pursuant to the constitutional order of succession, Vice President Alfredo Palacio took office as President of the Republic. 52 69. In the preliminary report on his mission to Ecuador, dated March 29, 2005, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Leandro Despouy spoke of the termination of the members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Constitutional Court, and the Supreme Court of Justice. 53 With regard to the Supreme Court, he said that: The incident which has had the greatest impact was the dismissal of the Supreme Court judges elected in 1997 and the action of the National Congress at the same session in appointing a new Court, displaying manifest irregularities as to the manner in which the former judges were dismissed and the appointment of the present judges. Despite the fact that a referendum in 1997 expressly removed from the National Congress its competence to appoint and dismiss members of the Supreme Court, and enshrined the principle of cooptation, and despite the fact that in the same year a constitutional reform laid down that the 48 Annex 17. Executive Decree No. 2752 of April 15, 2005, issued by President of the Republic Lucio Gutiérrez Borbúa. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.) 49 Annex 17. Executive Decree No. 2752 of April 15, 2005, issued by President of the Republic Lucio Gutiérrez Borbúa. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.) See also: Annex 19. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy, E/CN.4/2005/60/Add.4, Preliminary Report on the Mission to Ecuador, March 29, 2005. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.) 50 Annex 20. Executive Decree No. 2754 of April 16, 2005, issued by President of the Republic Lucio Gutiérrez Borbúa. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.) 51 Annex 19. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy, E/CN.4/2005/60/Add.4, Preliminary Report on the Mission to Ecuador, March 29, 2005. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.) 52 Annex 19. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy, E/CN.4/2005/60/Add.4, Preliminary Report on the Mission to Ecuador, March 29, 2005. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.) 53 Annex 21. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Leandro Despouy, A/60/321, Civil and political rights, including the questions of independence of the judiciary, administration of justice, impunity, August 31, 2005. (Annex to the petitioners’ submission, presented at the hearing held before the IACHR on March 13, 2006.)