4 PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COURT 7. The Commission’s application was notified to the State4 and to the representative on September 28, 2007. During the proceedings before this Tribunal, the President of the Court (hereinafter, the “President”) ordered to receive, by means of affidavits5 the testimonies of four people and the expert opinions of three people6 proponed by the Inter-American Commission and the representative, as well as the expert opinion of one person proposed by the representative only; in turn, the parties had the opportunity to present observations thereto. Furthermore, taking into account the special circumstances of the case, the President summoned the InterAmerican Commission, the representative and the State to a public hearing in order to hear the statement rendered by one alleged victim. On July 17, 2008, the State filed a brief containing observations to the affidavits presented by the Commission and the representatives and, among other things, objected to the aspects contained therein and requested the Court to order an addendum to said testimonies, sending a questionnaire of ten questions to such end. On July 18, 2008, this Secretariat, following the instructions of the President, requested the Commission and the representative to file observations to such request, which were received on July 25 and 29, 2008, respectively. On August 1, 2008, by means of a communication of the Secretariat, following the instructions of the President, the parties were advised that “once the statements and the expert opinions rendered by means of affidavits are received, they are forwarded to the parties in order for them to present the corresponding observations, preserving, in this way, the right to defend. Said statements are considered documentary evidence. In the instant case, the State exercised said right by means of the observations filed on July 17, 2008”. Furthermore, in such communications it was pointed out that “having obtained such statements, which were received at the Secretariat [...] the President deem[ed] the request made by the [...] State to be untimely". 8. Said public hearing was held on August 13, 2008 during the XXXV Period of Extraordinary Sessions of the Court in the city of Montevideo, Uruguay7. To this hearing, there appeared: a) on behalf of the Inter-American Commission: Luz Patricia Mejía, Delegate, and Manuela Cuvi, advisor; b) on behalf of the representatives: Waldo Albarracín Sánchez, Ombudsman of Bolivia, Marcelo Claros Pinilla and Fernando Zambrana Sea, advisors; and c) on behalf of the State: Ambassador Martín Callisaya Coaquira, Agent; Víctor Montecinos, Deputy Agent; Zahir Ferrufino, Chief of the Defense Unit and Internacional Legal Representation; Yovanka Oliden, Minister Advisor, Embassy of Bolivia to Costa Rica; Iván Morales, General Director of Legal Affairs; Ministry of Justice and Human Rights; Luis Rojas, responsible of the International Legal Representation’s Division; Mónica Alvarez, Responsible of the Human Rights Division; Fiorella Caldera, Lawyer of the Human Rights Division; Dora Villaroel, President of the Superior Court of the District of La Paz; Blanca Alarcón, officer of the Third Criminal Chamber of the District of La Paz; and María Eugenia Iriarte, District Prosecutor of the District of La Paz. 4 When the application was served on the State, the State was informed on the right to appoint a judge ad hoc in order to participate in the consideration of the case. Nevertheless, the State did not make use of such right. 5 Order of the President of June 9, 2008. 6 On June 26, 2008, the representative informed that the expert opinion of Mr. Róger Cortéz Hurtado could not be handed down and waived the right to present such opinion. 7 Order of the Court of August 8, 2008.