77 E. Costs and expenses 259. The representatives asked the Court to grant, in equity, the reimbursement of the costs and expenses to the Search Association for the investigation of these cases, In principle, these were processed at the domestic level and are now being processed at the international level, but on both occasions have entailed disbursements for transportation, messenger and communications services, food and lodging for victims, professional services, expenses related to the investigations carried out by the Search Association as part of the search effort, and the workshops imparted to different people, including the victims in the present case. The representatives asked that the Court take the amounts allocated in previous cases, for example the total of US$ 70,000.00 allocated in the Case of Contreras et al. v. El Salvador, as a minimum for calculating an amount corresponding to the time, work and resources used in the search for the victims during more than 18 years. At the time of the submission of the pleadings and motions brief, the expenses incurred by the Search Association in the instant case totaled US$ 168,128.59 (one hundred and sixty-eight thousand, one hundred and twenty-eight United States dollars with fifty-nine cents). Together with their final written arguments, the representatives submitted receipts totaling US$ 3,977.04 (three thousand nine hundred and seventyseven United States dollars and four cents). 260. The State asked the Court to ascertain that the corresponding costs and expenses were properly and sufficiently accredited and in keeping with the amounts established as a precedent in the judgments handed down in the cases of the Serrano Cruz Sisters and Contreras et al. It also noted that the amount requested in this case exceeds the standard of precedents set by the Court and asked it to establish a reasonable quantum. Regarding the vouchers submitted as evidence by the representatives, the State pointed out that some are not fully legible or are not clearly related to expenses incurred exclusively for the purposes of this case, and argued that the amount claimed significantly exceeds the standard amount for reparations. The State requested that the Court pay attention to the documentation submitted by the representatives to justify their outlay for costs and expenses, for the following reasons: some of the vouchers presented as photocopies are not completely legible; some of the vouchers submitted for fuel expenses are provisional invoices or business invoices not registered with the Finance Ministry, or cash receipts or checks that are not suitable for documenting expenditures, are not registered with the tax authorities or are documents not authorized by these and, therefore, are not instruments admitted by the tax administration, according to tax laws; some vouchers are estimates that do not document an expenditure that has actually been made; some documented expenses are clearly not related to the current international proceedings or are expenses that have not been incurred exclusively for the purposes of this case, such as fuel, vehicle maintenance, purchase of a vehicle and payment of insurance policies; expenses are reported that do not correspond to salaries and are presented interchangeably with payrolls, some of which are not signed, together with checks and cash receipts, with the possible duplication of expenses corresponding to salaries; most of the expenses submitted for legal expenses are not related to the legal proceedings, since they include payments for rent, food and transportation; expenses are reported for a hearing before the Commission held in 2010, which is not related to this case and travel expenses that exceed a reasonable quantum. In addition, the representatives report various expenditures, mostly on salaries, for which they present receipts chargeable to international cooperation funds, which are public or private solidarity funds, the purpose of which was to finance activities to strengthen the Search Association and the ensuing investigation of cases. 261. With respect to the foregoing, the representatives pointed out that different documents support the various expenditures made by the Association over the years in processing the instant case and that, being a non-profit institution, it does not generate its own resources and therefore receives support from international cooperation funds that are used to cover certain actions related to investigating cases and promoting victims’ rights. However, this does not affect its right to request that the respondent State recognize the procedural costs due, for which reason they asked the Court to interpret the documentation according to accounting principles and assess the entire body of