serious nature of the allegations made by the parties, this Presidency considers it
important to emphasize that, when they were informed through notes of the Secretariat
that the Court would need to reschedule the hearing of the case for a subsequent period
of sessions, the summons to a hearing referred to in Article 50 7 of the Court’s Rules of
Procedure had not yet been issued. Furthermore, the President considers that no harm
was done, as the parties have alleged, given that, once the date of the hearing was reset,
they were granted the procedural opportunity necessary to update the information
provided in their definitive lists, and were also offered an opportunity to submit their
observations to those lists and to raise objections and challenges as established in Articles
47 and 48 of the Rules of the Court. Moreover, when they considered it necessary, the
parties made use of the opportunity granted in Article 49 of the Court’s Rules to request
the substitution of deponents, a matter which will be decided in this ruling.
8.
This Presidency deems it appropriate to obtain the statement of the alleged victim
Allan Randolph Brewer Carías, proposed by the representatives, and the witness
statement of Ángel Alberto Bellorín, proposed by Venezuela, which were not challenged,
nor was any substitution proposed in this regard. Consequently, the President admits this
evidence so that the Court may assess its value at the proper procedural moment, within
the context of the existing body of evidence and according to the rules of sound judgment.
9.
The representatives of the alleged victim objected to the admission of seven witness
statements offered by the State and challenged the expert witness offered by the State.
For its part, the State objected to the two witness statements offered by the
representatives, challenged the five expert witnesses proposed by the representatives
(including the two expert witnesses proposed as substitutes), and opposed the request to
substitute two expert witnesses proposed by the representatives. Furthermore, the State
challenged the expert witness offered by the Inter-American Commission. The State also
asked that the Commission’s request to transfer statements rendered in five other cases
against Venezuela be considered retracted. The Commission said it had no observations to
make to the definitive lists of the representatives or the State.
10. The President will examine the following matters on which there is some dispute or
some particular request or question to resolve: a) the request to substitute two expert
statements offered by the representatives; b) the request to substitute the statement of
a witness offered by the State; c) the objection raised by the representatives to the
expert witness proposed by the State ; d) the challenge made by the State to four expert
witnesses proposed by the representatives; e) the objections of the representatives to the
admissibility of six witness statements offered by the State; f) the objections of the State
to two witness statements offered by the representatives; g) the objection raised by the
State to the expert witness proposed by the Inter-American Commission; h) the
admissibility of the expert opinion offered by the Commission; i) the request submitted
by the Commission to formulate questions to three expert witnesses offered by the
representatives; j) the Commission’s request to transfer to this case five statements
rendered within the framework of other cases against Venezuela; k) the manner in which
the statements and expert opinions will be received; and l) the final oral and written
arguments and observations.
7
Article 50(1) (Offering, Convocation and Appearance of Deponents) of the Rules states:
1. The Court or its Presidency shall issue an order deciding on the observations, objections, and
challenges presented, as applicable; defining the object of the statement of each one of the
deponents; requiring the submission of the affidavits deemed appropriate; and summoning all those
the Court deems appropriate to a hearing, if necessary.
6