14. On May 23, 2012, the representatives and the State submitted their final written arguments, while the Inter-American Commission presented its final written observations on this case. The parties and the Commission were granted the opportunity to make any observations they considered relevant on the attachments to the said briefs. The representatives submitted observations on June 21, 2012; the Commission indicated that it had no observations, and the State did not submit observations within the allotted time. 15. On July 13, 2012, on the instructions of the President of the Court and in accordance with article 5 of the Rules of the Legal Assistance Fund, the State of El Salvador was informed of the disbursements made in application of the Fund. The State presented its observations on July 20, 2012. 16. The Court received amicus curiae briefs from Oscar Humberto Luna, Ombudsman of El Salvador,9 and from Ezequiel Heffes.10 III ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE FACTS INCLUDED IN THE REPORT ON MERITS OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION 17. The State, taking into account the declaration of the President of the Republic of El Salvador on January 16, 2010, during the ceremony to commemorate the eighteenth anniversary of the signature of the Peace Accords in El Salvador, acknowledged and accepted “the facts alleged in the application (sic) presented by the Inter-American Commission […] in the instant case, that were considered proven facts in its report on merits 177/10.” In addition, it acknowledged the facts set out in the representatives’ pleadings and motions brief, “specifically those described in section C of chapter II of this autonomous brief concerning the exhumations performed between 2000 and 2004; the request to reopen the case at the domestic level presented in 2006 by the Oficina de Tutela Legal del Arzobispado, and the suffering experienced by the surviving victims and their next of kin.” Regarding point 4 of section C of the pleadings and motions brief, relating to the loss of property and the displacement of the surviving victims, the State only acknowledged “those facts that are based on the reliable testimony of surviving victims, and those described in official reports [of the] Inter-American Commission, international protection agencies that were or continue to be part of the United Nations system, and the contents of the Report of the Truth Commission of the United Nations, created by the El Salvador Peace Accords. The State did not comment explicitly on the alleged violations of rights included in the briefs of the Commission and the representatives. Furthermore, the State did not submit observations on the lists identifying the “victims executed extrajudicially,” “the survivors and next of kin of victims who were executed,” and “the victims who were forcibly displaced,” provided by the Commission and the representatives. 18. Regarding reparations, the State acknowledged “its obligation to investigate the facts denounced, to prosecute by means of a fair trial and punish, as appropriate, those responsible for the facts described in the application,” and also “its obligation to adapt its domestic laws pursuant to the provisions of Article 2, in relation to Article 1(1) of the American Convention.” The State also expressed its willingness to expedite the measures of reparation recommended by the Commission in its report on merits 177/10. During the public hearing and in its closing arguments, the State expressed its willingness to accept and to carry out, within a reasonable timeframe according to the type of measure: (a) the full identification of the victims of the massacre, both those who were executed and the survivors, as well as their next of kin, and those who suffered enforced displacement; (b) the continuation of the task of exhuming the remaining victims; (c) the public acknowledgment of responsibility, “a measure that [had] already been carried out”; (d) the publication of the relevant parts of the judgment delivered by the Court; (e) the creation of mechanisms to recognize the dignity of the victims and to 9 Brief of April 20, 2012, presented on May 4, 2012. 10 Undated brief, presented on May 7, 2012. 8