5 Secretariat notified the application to Human Rights Watch and to the Human Rights Office of the Archbishopric Guatemala, and on August 4, 2003, to the International Human Rights Law Group, all the foregoing in their capacity as original petitioners. Also, on August 1 and 7, 2003, pursuant to Article 35(1)(e) of the Rules of Procedure, the Secretariat notified the application to the next of kin of the alleged victims. 20. hoc. On August 13, 2003, the State appointed Oscar Luján Fappiano as Judge ad 21. On September 29, 2003, the State appointed Conrado Arnulfo Reyes as its agent and Joel López y López as its deputy agent. 22. On October 3, 2003, after an extension had been granted, the representatives presented the requests and arguments brief. In this brief, CEJIL stated that, in addition to the articles indicated by the Inter-American Commission in its application (supra para. 2), the State had violated Article 23 (Right to Participate in Government) of the American Convention. The representatives also requested specific reparations and the payment of costs and expenses. 23. On November 18, 2003, the State requested an extension of the time limit for answering the application, which had expired on October 1, 2003. On November 26, 2003, the Secretariat informed the State that the Court, in plenary, had rejected this request because it was time-barred. 24. On February 3, 2004, the State advised that it had appointed Sandra Elizabeth Ruano Arriola as its agent, in substitution of Conrado Reyes (supra para. 21). 25. On March 1, 2004, the State requested that it be allowed to substitute Judge ad hoc, Oscar Luján Fappiano (supra para. 20), by Alejandro Sánchez Garrido. On March 5, 2004, the Secretariat informed the State that the President had been informed of its request to substitute the judge ad hoc. 26. On March 3, 2004, the State communicated that it had appointed Rosa del Carmen Bejarano Girón as its agent, in substitution of Sandra Elizabeth Ruano Arriola (supra para. 24). 27. On April 6, 2004, the State advised that it had appointed Herbert Estuardo Meneses Coronado as its agent, in substitution of Rosa del Carmen Bejarano Girón (supra para. 26), and Luis Ernesto Cáceres Rodríguez as its deputy agent. 28. On April 29, 2004, the Court issued an order in which it rejected the proposed substitution of Judge ad hoc Oscar Luján Fappiano by Alejandro Sánchez Garrido, on the following grounds: 3. That the condition of the judge ad hoc is identical to that of the other judges who compose the Court, in the sense that they do not represent a specific State, but incorporate the Court in their personal capacity, in accordance with Article 52(1) of the American Convention, and also Article 55(4) thereof. […] 4. That, in this regard, the Court has indicated: “[t]he incorporation in their personal capacity of all the permanent and ad hoc judges of the Court is based on and must take into account the need to protect the independence and impartiality of an international tribunal.” […]