9. On June 1, 2011, the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”) issued an Order granting the request by the alleged victims to have access to the Legal Assistance Fund and approved the financial assistance necessary for the submission of a maximum of three statements. 10. On June 29, 2011, following the instructions of the President, and agreeing to the requests of the Commission and the representatives in their briefs submitting the case and of pleading and motions, respectively, the Secretary asked the representatives and the Commission to indicate whether they considered it necessary to require the State to submit, in addition to the attachments to its answer, other documents from case files and, where appropriate, to specify these. Moreover, the representatives were required to indicate which documents related to the provisional measures ordered they were requesting to be included, having regard to the purpose of this case. 11. On July 15, 2011, the representatives specified the documents contained in the file on provisional measures referenced in their brief of pleadings and motions. 12. On November 3, 2011, by Order of the President (infra para. 11), the State was asked to submit, no later than November 14, 2011, digital and updated copies of court records related to this case, from January 2011 until the present.10 13. On November 1, 2011, the representatives submitted part of the documentation requested from the State regarding the criminal proceedings for slander opened against Luis Enrique Uzcátegui. 14. On November 3, 2011, the President of the Court issued an Order in which he requested that affidavits be submitted from five alleged victims, one witness and five expert witnesses, proposed by the representatives and the State, as well as the closing arguments of the parties; made determinations regarding the Legal Assistance Fund; and set a deadline for the presentation of the written closing arguments and final observations. 11 15. On November 25, 2011, in view of the fact that the State had only submitted part of the documentation requested on November 3, 2011, upon the instructions of the President, the request was reiterated through a note of the Secretariat. 16. The public hearing was held on November 28, 2011, during the 93rd Regular Period of Sessions, held at the seat of the Court.12 Association of Bolivia (ANP); Asociación por los Derechos Civiles de Argentina; Centro de Archivo y Acceso a la Información Pública de Uruguay; Comité por la Libre Expresión (C-Libre) Honduras; Corporación Transparency of Colombia; Fundación Democracia sin Fronteras (FDsF) Honduras; Due Process of Law Foundation of the United States; Fundación para the Libertad of Prensa of Colombia; Fundación Pro Acceso of Chile; Department of Legal Studies of the Fundación Salvadoreña para el Desarrollo Económico y Social (FUSADES) - El Salvador; Programa de Acceso a la Información Pública of the Fundación Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, Nicaragua; Fundamedios of Ecuador; Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación, Mexico; Instituto de Derecho y Economía Ambiental (IDEA) – Paraguay; Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión (IPLEX), Costa Rica; Transparency of Venezuela, Forum de Periodistas por las libertades de Expresión e Información – Panamá; Espacio público – Venezuela; Article 19 - Brazil (Observer Organization). 10 Namely the following files were requested: No. IPO1-P-2008-000591 and IPO1-P-2008-005394, as well as a full digital copy of file No. IK01-P-2003-000008 (nomenclature of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of the State of Falcón) concerning the slander case against Luis Enrique Uzcátegui Jiménez. 11 Cf. Case of Néstor José and Luis Enrique Uzcátegui et al. v. Venezuela. Order of the President of the Court of November 3, 2011. 12 The following individuals appeared at this hearing: a) for the Inter-American Commission: Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary; Catalina Botero, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression; Karla Quintana Osuna and Lorena Cristina Ramírez, Advisers; b) for the representatives: Liliana Ortega, Willy 6