I. INTRODUCTION OF THE CASE AND CAUSE OF THE ACTION 1. The case submitted to the Court. On May 6, 2021, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) submitted to the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court the case of “Daniel García Rodríguez and Reyes Alpízar Ortiz against the United Mexican States” (hereinafter “the State” or “Mexico”). According to the Commission, the case refers to the international responsibility of the State for alleged acts of torture and for the violation of the rights to judicial guarantees, the presumption of innocence and personal liberty to the detriment of Daniel García Rodríguez and Reyes Alpízar Ortiz, who were held in pretrial detention for more than 17 years. It is alleged that they were arrested without a previous court order and were only formally notified of the reasons for their arrest when they were brought before a judge, 47 and 34 days later, respectively, after having been deprived of their liberty. In addition, the Commission considered that the application of arraigo (confinement or detention for investigative purposes) constituted a punitive rather than a precautionary measure, and was therefore an arbitrary deprivation of liberty that violated the presumption of innocence. It further argued that the pretrial detention subsequent to arraigo, which lasted for 17 years, was arbitrary. Furthermore, it considered that the State had violated the rule of exclusion of evidence obtained under coercion, together with the right of defense, the principle of presumption of innocence, and the principle of reasonable time in the context of the criminal proceedings. 2. Procedure before the Commission. The procedure before the Commission was as follows: a. Petition. On February 16 and April 17, 2007, the Commission received the initial petition submitted by Daniel García Rodríguez. 1 b. Admissibility and Merits Reports. On May 25, 2017, and March 3, 2020, the Commission adopted, respectively, Admissibility Report No. 68/17 (hereinafter “the Admissibility Report”) in which it concluded that the petition was admissible, and the Report on the Merits No. 13/20 (hereinafter “Merits Report”), in which it reached certain conclusions and made several recommendations to the State. c. Notification to the State. On May 6, 2020, the Commission notified Report No. 13/20 to the State, granting it two months to report on its compliance with the recommendations. 3. Submission to the Court. On May 6, 2021, the Commission submitted the case to the Court containing the facts and human rights violations set forth in the Merits Report and taking into account the recommendations that were still pending implementation, as well as “the need to obtain justice for the [alleged] victims and the will expressed by the petitioners.” 4. Requests of the Commission. Based on the foregoing, the Inter-American Commission asked the Court to find and declare the international responsibility of the State for the violation of Articles 5(1), 5(2), 7(1), 7(2), 7(3), 7(4), 7(5), 7(6), 8(1), 8(2), 8(2)(d), 8(2)(e) and 8(2)(f), 8(3), and 25 of the American Convention on Human Rights, in relation to the obligations established in Articles 1(1) and 2 thereof, and Articles 1, 6 and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, to the detriment of the alleged victims. It also requested that various measures of reparation be ordered. This Court notes, with deep concern, that almost 14 years have passed since the presentation of the initial petition to the Commission and the submission of the case before the Court. 1 The petition was also presented on behalf of Reyes Alpízar Ortiz. -4-