in getting involved and intending to retaliate for the cases that Prosecutor Nissen Pessolani was investigating, in addition to there being a political interest to remove him. In the Merits Report, the Commission indicated that it did not have the evidence to rule on a violation of the guarantee of impartiality.78 Subsequently, and taking into account the evidence provided by the representative in his brief with pleadings and arguments, and by the State in its response, it considered that there were new elements that demonstrated the violation of the aforementioned guarantee. The State, for its part, argued to deny such lack of impartiality in its response and in its final written arguments. The Court understands that the elements mentioned by the representative in brief with pleadings and arguments, and taken up by the Commission in its final observations regarding the alleged lack of impartiality of some members of the JEM, in addition to being directly related to the factual framework contained in the Commission's Merits Report, constitute a controversial issue, regarding which the parties have had the opportunity to argue what is relevant and which is of interest for resolving the case in question. 68. In this regard, this Court notes that, at the time of the facts, Paraguay was experiencing political instability as a result of several corruption scandals. In this regard, the State itself in its final written arguments referred to the Annual Report of the InterAmerican Commission and the Third Report on the situation of human rights in Paraguay, where corruption is mentioned among "the crimes that the State must condemn and that have apparently gone unpunished." In this context, some of the investigations developed by Prosecutor Nissen Pessolani were related to the possession of stolen vehicles by political figures (supra para. 29). 69. In particular, in the framework of case no. 9936, Prosecutor Nissen Pessolani was investigating L.A.C.A.C., son of a former vice-president of the Republic,79 and on March 9, 2002 ordered his arrest along with others under investigation.80 This case aroused the particular interest of the then president of the JEM. In fact, on March 8, 2002, before the complaint against Mr. Nissen Pessolani was filed before the JEM, its president, by means of Record No. 22/02 requested that the Prosecutor provide him with the copies of the case file "[L.S.] et al. s/reduction et al."81 This request was reiterated in official letter no. 23/02 of March 12, 2002, where it was indicated "under warning that failure to do so will be understood as contempt of the authority of this Jury."82 In his testimony at the public hearing, witness Luis Talavera Alegre, who was a member of the JEM at the 78 In particular, the Commission pointed out that there was no record in the file of the challenge filed by Mr. Nissen Pessolani or its resolution. 79 Cf. Newspaper article "Prosecutor orders the arresto f one of the [A.]" La Nación newspaper of March 9, 2002 (case file of evidence, folio 2707) and Newspaper article "Arrest ordered for [A.] for the alleged reduction of a stolen car." La Nación newspaper of March 9, 2002 (case file of evidence, folio 2708). This article states "Criminal Prosecutor Alejandro Nissen Pessolani yesterday ordered the prosecution and arrest of [L.A.C.A.C.], one of the sons of the murdered Vice President [L.M.A.], because it was discovered that he bought and allegedly forged the title of a luxury car based on the false certificate that was used to do the same with the presidential BMW mau." This newspaper article was also submitted as evidence by the State as an annex to its brief in response (case file of evidence, folio 2932). Cf. Newspaper article "Ordenan detención de [P.], [A.] y otros por reducción", news of March 9, 2002 (case file of evidence, folio 2946). 80 81 149). 82 Cf. Letter No. 22/02 issued by the president of the JEM on March 8, 2002 (case file of evidence, folio Letter No. 23/02 issued by the president of the JEM on March 12, 2002 (case file of evidence, folio 150). 22