-49. On August 23, 2004, the representatives transmitted the statements made before public notary (affidavits) by three witnesses, and the sworn statements of three expert witnesses. The representatives also presented the videos with the statements made before public notary (affidavits) by the three witnesses. 10. On August 27, 2004, the Inter-American Commission forwarded the sworn statement made by an expert witness. 11. On September 1, 2004, the Inter-American Commission and the representatives filed briefs with which they transmitted observations on the sworn written statements made before public notary (affidavits) presented by the State (supra para. 8). The representatives included several documents as appendixes to their brief. 12. On September 3, 2004, the State forwarded its observations on the sworn written statements presented by the Commission and the representatives, as well as on the statements and videos submitted by the representatives (supra paras. 9 and 10). 13. On September 6, 2004, the State submitted a brief, to which it attached documentation, and requested the Court to admit the evidence it had attached. 14. On September 7 and 8, 2004, the Court held a public hearing on preliminary objections and merits, reparations, and costs. 15. On September 9, 2004, in response to the request made by the Court during the public hearing, the representatives of the alleged victims and their next of kin forwarded a copy of Legislative Decree No. 486, “General Amnesty Act for the Consolidation of Peace,” issued on March 20, 1993, and judgment No. 24-97/21-98, delivered by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador on September 26, 2000. 16. On September 10, 2004, the Ombudsman of El Salvador submitted a brief, attaching a copy of his “Report on the forced disappearance of Ernestina and Erlinda Serrano Cruz, its current impunity and the pattern of violence surrounding such disappearances], published on September 2, 2004. The representatives also presented a copy of this report on September 6, 2004. 17. On October 7, 2004, the State submitted its final written arguments on preliminary objections and merits, reparations, and costs, with several appendixes. El Salvador also forwarded some of the documents that the President of the Court had requested as helpful evidence. 18. On October 8, 2004, the Inter-American Commission and the representatives remitted their final written arguments on preliminary objections and merits, reparations, and costs. 19. On October 18, 2004, the State submitted a brief with which it remitted a copy of “Executive Decree No. 45, signed by the President of the Republic and the Minister of the Interior, creating the Inter-institutional Commission to find the children who disappeared as a result of the armed conflict in El Salvador.” 20. On November 22, 2004, the representatives forwarded a brief and its