II. PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT 4. Notification to the State and the representatives.4 - The submission of the case was notified to the representatives and the State on January 11, 2018. 5. Brief with pleadings, motions and evidence. - On March 9, 2018, the representatives filed their brief of pleadings, motions and evidence (hereinafter "pleadings and motions brief"), pursuant to of Articles 25 and 40 of the Court’s Rules of Procedure. 6. Answering brief.5 - On May 19, 2018, the State filed its response to the submission of the case and to the pleadings and motions brief (hereinafter "Response" or "Answering Brief"), in which it raised a preliminary objection, pursuant to Article 42 of the Rules of Procedure. 7. Observations on the preliminary objection. - On June 19 and 21, 2018, the Commission and the representatives presented their observations to the preliminary objection filed by the State. 8. Public hearing. – In an order of July 9, 2018, the President of the Court summoned the parties and the Commission to a public hearing, which was held on August 28, 2018, during the Court’s 59th Special Session, which took place in the city of San Salvador.6 9. Amicus curiae brief submitted by Mr. Eduardo S. Barcesat.- The Court received an amicus curiae brief on July 26, 2018, filed by Mr. Eduardo S. Barcesat. On the other hand, on April 26, 2019, Mr. Rico submitted a note in which he ratified that he will be represented by Mr. Eduardo S. Barcesat. With respect to the foregoing, the Court recalls that Article 2(3) of its Rules of Procedure specifies that the expression "amicus curiae" means the person or institution outside the litigation and the proceeding who submits to the Court reasoning on the facts contained in the submission of the case or formulates legal considerations on the subject matter of the proceeding, through a document or a pleading at a hearing. Therefore, the Court considers that from the moment Mr. Eduardo S. Barcesat was appointed as Mr. Rico's representative in the present case, he ceased to be a person "outside the litigation". Therefore, the amicus curiae submitted filed by Mr. Barcesat on July 26, 2018 is inadmissible. 10. Final written arguments and observations. - On October 1, 2018, the Commission, the State and the representatives submitted their final written observations and final written arguments, respectively. 11. Deliberation of the instant case. - The Court began deliberation of this Judgment on September 2, 2019. III. JURISDICTION 12. The Court has jurisdiction to hear the present case pursuant to Article 62(3) of the Convention, since Argentina has been a State Party to the Convention since September 5, 1984, and accepted the contentious jurisdiction of the Court on the same date. The representatives of the alleged victim are: Susana María Barneix and Carlos Federico Bossi Ballester. On April 26, 2019, Mr. Rico submitted a note in which he ratified the submissions made by Dr. Eduardo S. Barcesat, whom he also recognizes as his representative. 5 The State appointed Alberto Javier Salgado as its Agent in this case, and Ramiro Cristóbal Badía as Alternate Agent. 6 The following persons appeared at this hearing: a) for the Inter-American Commission: Luis Ernesto Vargas Silva, Christian González Chacón and Silvia Serrano Guzmán; b) on behalf of the alleged victim: Eduardo Rico and Carlos Federico Bossi Ballester, and c) for the State of Argentina: Alberto Javier Salgado and Ramiro Cristóbal Badía. 4 -4-