12.
The President takes note that, at the current stage of the proceedings, it is not
possible to determine which of the testimonies offered by the representatives will be
received by the Court, or in what form they will be received. Under Article 50(1) of the
Court’s Rules of Procedure, this determination corresponds to the Court or to its President,
once the parties have forwarded their final lists of the deponents they propose and the right
to defense has been ensured, in the terms of Articles 45 to 49 of the Court’s Rules of
Procedure.
13.
Based on the foregoing considerations, the President finds admissible the presumed
victims’ request to use the Court’s Legal Assistance Fund, in the understanding that it will
be to cover expenditure relating to the adequate appearance of deponents in an eventual
public hearings, as well as the presentation of testimony to the Court. In this regard, based
on the resources currently available in the Assistance Fund, the presumed victims will be
awarded the necessary financial assistance for the presentation, charged to the Fund, of a
maximum of three testimonies, either by affidavit or at the public hearing. In addition, he
finds it appropriate to postpone determination of the specific amount, purpose and object of
the financial assistance that will be provided to the presumed victims until such time as this
President, or the Court, rules on the admissibility and relevance of the statements of
presumed victims and of the testimonial and expert evidence offered and, as appropriate,
on the opening of the oral proceedings, in accordance with Article 50(1) of the Court’s Rules
of Procedure, in order to be certain which testimonies will be received by the Court, and also
the way in which they will be presented (supra twelfth considering paragraph).
THEREFORE:
THE PRESIDENT OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS,
in exercise of his authority in relation to the Victims’ Legal Assistance Fund of the Court and
in accordance with Article 31 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure and Article 3 of the Rules of
Procedure of the Court’s Legal Assistance Fund,
DECIDES:
1.
To declare admissible the request submitted by the presumed victims, through their
representatives, to use the Victims’ Legal Assistance Fund of the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights, so that the necessary financial assistance will be granted for the
presentation of a maximum of three testimonies, and that the specific amount, purpose and
object of this assistance will be defined when deciding on the presentation of testimonial
and expert evidence, and on the opening of the oral proceedings, in accordance with Article
50 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure, as established in the thirteenth considering paragraph
of this order.
2.
To require the Secretariat of the Court to notify this order to the representatives of
the presumed victims, the State of Venezuela, and the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights.
Diego García-Sayán
President
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