I. INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND CAUSE OF ACTION 1. The case submitted to the Court. - On November 10, 2017, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter "the Inter-American Commission" or "the Commission") submitted to the jurisdiction of the Court, pursuant to the provisions of Articles 51 and 61 of the American Convention, the case of "Rico" against the Argentine Republic (hereinafter "the State", "the Argentine State" or "Argentina"). The dispute concerns the alleged international responsibility of the State for the dismissal of Eduardo Rico (hereinafter also "the alleged victim" or "Mr. Rico") as Judge of Labor Court No. 6 of the San Isidro Judicial Department in Argentina, as well as his ineligibility from holding another office in the Judiciary for allegedly having committed disciplinary offenses. The Commission considered that the State violated the right to appeal the judgment in relation to the obligation to respect rights and the obligation to give domestic legal effects to the Convention, because Mr. Rico would was not able to obtain a review of that ruling. In addition, it concluded that the State violated the right to have duly motivated decisions and the principle of legality, as well as the rights to judicial protection and to participate in government to the detriment of Mr. Rico. 2. Proceedings before the Commission. - The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a. Petition. - On March 4, 2002, the Commission received a petition from Susana María Barneix and Adrián Leopoldo Azzi (hereinafter "the petitioners") against Argentina.1 b. Admissibility Report. - On April 13, 2016, the Commission adopted Admissibility Report No. 9/16.2 c. Merits Report. On July 5, 2017, the Commission adopted Merits Report No. 72/17, pursuant to Article 50 of the Convention (hereinafter "Merits Report"), in which it reached a series of conclusions3 and made several recommendations to the State. d. Notification to the State. - The Merits Report was notified to the State on August 9, 2017, granting a period of two months to report on compliance with the recommendations. Argentina requested two extensions, which were granted by the Commission. After assessing the information submitted by the State, the Commission considered that no substantial progress had been made in complying with the recommendations. 3. Submission to the Court. - On November 10, 2017, the Commission submitted to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court the facts and alleged human rights violations described in the Merits Report "in view of the need to obtain justice for the victim in the particular case". Thus, it requested the Court to conclude and declare the international responsibility of Argentina for the violation of the rights indicated in the conclusions of the Merits Report. It also requested that the State be ordered to implement certain reparation measures. On October 22, 2004, attorney Carlos Federico Bossi Ballester joined as petitioner. In that report, the Commission declared the petition admissible for the purpose of examining the possible violation of the rights contained in Articles 8, 9 and 25 of the Convention. In turn, it declared the petition inadmissible in relation to Articles 11, 21 and 24 of the Convention. 3 It concluded that Argentina was responsible for the violation of the rights established in Articles 8(1), 8(2)(h), 9, 23 and 25(1) of the Convention. 1 2 -3-