3 to freedom of expression, therefore Article 13 of such instrument had not been violated. The State appointed Mr. Jorge Federico Lee as agent and, later, Mr. Edgardo Sandoval Rampsey, as deputy agent. II PROCEEDING BEFORE THE COURT 6. The application by the Commission was served upon the State and upon the representatives on October 5 and 8, 2007, respectively.1 During the proceedings before the Court, in addition to the presentation of the principal briefs forwarded by the parties (supra paras. 1, 4 and 5), the representatives and the Commission filed, on March 18 and 26, 2008, respectively, their pleadings on the preliminary objection made by the State, among other briefs. 7. By means of an Order dated June 9, 2008, the President of the Court ordered that depositions by the witnesses offered by the representatives and by the State be received through statements made before a public official whose acts command full faith and credit (affidavit), as well as those of the expert witnesses, one of them offered by the Inter-American Commission and by the representatives, and the other offered by the State, regarding whom the parties have had the opportunity to put forth observations. Likewise, considering the specific circumstances attending the case, the President summoned the Commission, the representatives and the State to a public hearing in order to hear the statement by Mr. Tristán Donoso, offered by the Commission and by his representatives, and that of two expert witnesses, one of them offered by the Inter-American Commission and the other one offered by the State, as well as the final pleadings by the parties on the preliminary objection and possibly on the merits, reparations and costs.2 8. The public hearing was held on August 13, 2008, during the XXXV Special Session of the Court, held at the city of Montevideo, Uruguay.3 1 On September 28, 2007, before serving notice of the application, the State forwarded a brief to the Tribunal wherein it indicated that it was “approaching” the alleged victim “for the purpose of arriving at a settlement of the case by mutual agreement” and that it hoped for the “early termination of the proceedings under Article 54 of the Rules of Procedure.” On the other hand, on October 3, 2007, the State was informed that it could appoint an ad hoc judge to take part in the consideration of the instant case. On August 29, 2007, the Inter-American Commission forwarded its brief “Position of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights on the institution of the ad hoc judge.” On October 30, 2007, the State appointed Mr. Juan Antonio Tejada Espino as ad hoc judge. However, on November 23, 2007, the State informed that such person “had declined the decision by the State to appoint him as ad-hoc Judge for the instant case” and requested “an additional time period to allow it to appoint a new ad-hoc Judge.” On December 5, 2007, the Tribunal informed the State that “when it was holding its LXXVII Session it learned about the request by the State and had decided that it could not be granted, inasmuch as the State had had the time and the opportunity that were procedurally due in order to effect such appointment and that the aforementioned request for an additional term was made when such delay had already fallen due. Such has been the standard applied by the Court in other cases where a request of this nature has been made.” 2 Cf. Case of Tristán Donoso v. Panamá. Summons to a Public Hearing. Order of the President of the Court of June 9, 2008 (File on Merits, Book II, folios 452 to 466). 3 By means of an Order dated August 8, 2008, the Court decided to commission Judges García Sayán, as Incumbent President, García Ramírez, Ventura Robles, Franco, Macaulay and Abreu Blondet to sit at the public hearing summoned in the instant case. The following individuals attended the public hearing: a) for the Inter-American Commission: Luz Patricia Mejía, Delegate, Lilly Ching and Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez, counsel; b) by the representatives of the alleged victim: Viviana Krsticevic, Marcela Martino and Gisela De Leon, from CEJIL, and c) for the State: Jorge Federico Lee, Agent, Edgardo Sandoval