8. Observations on the preliminary objections. On August 9 and 10, 2012, the Commission and the representatives each presented their observations on the preliminary objections and the document that the State had entitled “partial acknowledgement of responsibility.” 9. Public hearing and additional evidence. On December 19, 2012, the President issued an Order,6 in which he required that the statements of 14 presumed victims, four expert witnesses proposed by the representatives, two expert witnesses offered by the Commission, and two expert witnesses proposed by the State be received by affidavit. In this Order, the President also convened the parties and the Commission to a public hearing that took place on February 11 and 12, 2013, during the Court’s ninety-eighth regular session, which was held at its seat.7 During the hearing, the Court received the statements of two presumed victims and one expert witness proposed by the representatives, one expert witness proposed by the Commission, and one deponent for information purposes, one expert witness and one witness proposed by the State, as well as the final oral observations and arguments of the Commission, the representative of the presumed victims, and the State, respectively. During the said hearing, the Court requested the parties to present certain helpful information and documentation. 10. Amici curiae. On January 14, February 27, and March 1, 12 and 14, 2013, respectively, the Members of the Black Ethnic Group victims of the forced displacement from Bajo Atrato, Chocó, Colombia, Thomas Mortensen of Christian Aid (UK and Ireland), the International Center for Transitional Justice, Jaime Arturo Fonseca Triviño of the Confesion Voluntariado Misionero Cristiano MANOS UNIDAS, the Coordinación Colombia Europa Estados Unidos,8 and Macarena Sáez of the American University Washington College of Law Impact Litigation Project,9 submitted amicus curiae briefs. 11. Final written arguments and observations. On March 13, 2013,10 the representatives and the State forwarded their final written arguments, and the Commission presented its final written observations. The representative and the State responded to the Court’s requests for helpful information and documentation. 12. Observations on annexes to the final arguments. The briefs with final written arguments and observations were forwarded to the parties and to the Commission on April 4, 2013. 13. Helpful evidence. The President granted the representatives and the State a time frame for presenting any observations they deemed pertinent on the helpful evidence requested by the Court (infra paras. 61 to 69), as well as on the information and attachments forwarded by 6 Cf. Case of Marino López Mena et al. (Operation Genesis) v. Colombia, Order of the President of the Court of December 19, 2012. 7 At this hearing, there appeared: (a) for the Inter-American Commission: José Jesús Orozco, Commissioner and President of the Commission, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Deputy Executive Secretary, and Silvia Serrano and Jorge Meza, Executive Secretariat lawyers; (b) for the representatives of the presumed victims: Liliana Andrea Ávila, Iván Danilo Rueda and Abilio Peña Buendía, all from the Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, and (c) for the State of Colombia: Rafael Nieto Loaiza, Agent; Hernando Herrera Vergara, Colombian Ambassador to Costa Rica; Yolanda Gómez Restrepo, Director for Legal Defense of the State’s National Legal Defense Agency; Adriana Guillén Arango, Director General of the State’s National Legal Defense Agency, and José Lemus, adviser. 8 Composed of the Corporación Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo (CCAJAR), the Grupo Interdisciplinario para los Derechos Humanos (GIDH), the Corporación Jurídica Libertad (CJL), the Corporación Jurídica Yira Castro (CJYC), the Corporación Reiniciar, the Asociación para la Promoción Social Alternativa MINGA, and the Humanidad Vigente Corporación Jurídica (HVCJ), all organizations members of the Working Group on Extrajudicial Executions of the Coordinación Colombia Europa Estados Unidos, the Comision Colombiana de Juristas (CCJ), the Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos and el Desplazamiento (CODHES), and Carlos Rodríguez Mejía. 9 This brief, in English, was received on February 27, 2013. 10 The State forwarded the brief with final arguments to the Secretariat of the Court on March 13, 2013, without its annexes, and these were received 26 days after the time limit established for the presentation of the brief. 7