2 who was kidnapped from his father’s home by members of the Guatemalan Army on October 6, 1981.” 3. The Commission also asked the Court to order the State to make the monetary and non-monetary reparations demanded by the representatives of the victim and his next of kin. Finally, it asked the Inter-American Court to order the State to pay the costs due to processing of the case both under domestic venue and under international venue, before the bodies of the Inter-American system for the protection of human rights. II COMPETENCE 4. Guatemala has been a State Party to the American Convention since May 25, 1978, and it accepted the adjudicatory jurisdiction of the Court on March 9, 1987. Therefore, the Court is competent to hear the instant case, in accordance with Article 62 of the Convention. Guatemala has also been a State Party to the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance since February 25, 2000. III PROCEEDING BEFORE THE COMMISSION 5. On September 8, 1998 the Center for Justice and International Law (hereinafter “CEJIL”, “the representatives of the victim and his next of kin” or “the representatives”) and the Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo (hereinafter “GAM”) filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission based on the forced disappearance of Marco Antonio Molina Theissen (hereinafter “Marco Antonio Molina Theissen” or “Marco Antonio” or “the victim”) carried out by the Guatemalan Army. On February 3, 1999 the Commission forwarded the pertinent parts of the petition to the State. 6. On March 4, 2003, after analyzing the positions of the parties and deeming that the friendly settlement stage had come to an end, the Commission adopted its Report on the Merits No. 35/03, in which it made a number of recommendations to the State. 7. On July 3, 2003, based on non-compliance by the State with its recommendations, the Inter-American Commission decided to bring the instant case before the Inter-American Court. IV PROCEEDING BEFORE THE COURT 8. On July 4, 2003 the Inter-American Commission filed the application before the Court. The annexes to the application arrived on July 30, 2003. On August 7, 2003 the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the Secretariat”), after a preliminary examination of the application by the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”), forwarded it to the State together with its annexes and informed the State of the deadlines to respond to the application and to appoint its agent in the proceeding. On August 8, 2003, in accordance with Article 35(1)(e) of the Rules of Procedure, the Court forwarded the application to CEJIL and informed CEJIL that it had 30 days time to submit its brief containing pleadings, motions, and evidence.