3 7. On March 12, 1996, the Comité de Familiares de Víctimas de los Sucesos de Febrero-Marzo de 1989 (Committee of Next of Kin of the Victims of the Events of February-March 1989) (hereinafter “COFAVIC”) and the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (Center for Justice and International Law) (hereinafter “CEJIL”) filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission, which was admitted under number 11,699, regarding the “[alleged] serious events occurred in the Judicial Detention Center of Catia on November 27, 1992.” 8. On October 20, 2004 during its 121st Period of Ordinary Sessions, the Commission approved the report on Admissibility and Merits Nº 79/04, by means of which it concluded, inter alia, that the State violated the rights embodied in Article 4 (Right to Life), Article 5 (Right to Humane Treatment), Article 8 (Right to Fair Trial) and Article 25 (Right to Judicial Protection) of the American Convention, regarding Articles 1(1) and 2 of the same, for the massacre occurring in the Detention Center of Catia on November 27, 1992, and for the lack of investigation, trial and punishment of the responsible persons and of effective reparation to the victims of those violations and their next of kin. The Commission recommended the State to adopt a series of measures to repair the aforesaid violations. 9. On November 24, 2004, the Commission sent the State the Report Nº 79/04 and granted it a term of two months to inform about the measures adopted in order to comply with the recommendations made. On that same date, the Commission, pursuant to Article 43(3) of the Rules of Procedure, notified the petitioners about the adoption of the report and the notice given to the State and requested them to submit their comments regarding the possible submission of the case before the Inter-American Court; such comments were submitted on January 3, 2005. 10. On January 24, 2005, the State requested an extension of the term granted for the submission of the report regarding the compliance with the recommendations of Report Nº 79/04. The Commission granted the extension; however, the State did not file the requested information. 11. On February 18, 2005, the Inter-American Commission decided to submit the instant case to the jurisdiction of the Court, in view of “the failure to satisfactorily implement the recommendations stated in Report Nº 79/04.” IV PROCEEDING BEFORE THE COURT 12. On February 24, 2005, the Commission filed an application before the Court regarding the instant case. The Appendixes to such application were sent on March 14, 2005. The Commission appointed Commissioners Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and Florentín Meléndez and Executive Secretariat Santiago A. Canton as Delegates before the Court and Juan Pablo Albán, Débora Benchoam and Víctor H. Madrigal as legal counsel. 13. On April 1, 2005, the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the Secretariat”,) after a preliminary examination of the application by the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”,) served the said application and its Appendixes on the State and also notified the State of the term within which it had to answer the application and to appoint its attorneys in the proceedings. On April 5, 2005, pursuant to Article 35(1)(d) and (e) of the Rules of Procedure, the Secretariat served notice of the application on CEJIL and COFAVIC, representatives of the alleged