hears this process, and pronounces itself on the appropriateness or not of this factual appeal and on the cassation appeal filed by the other defendants ". Consequently, it also decided to suspend the execution of the judgement against Emilio Palacio Urrutia66. Finally, on December 27, 2011, the Second Criminal Chamber of the National Court of Justice decided to deny the factual appeal filed by Emilio Palacio Urrutia67. 2.3.4 Correa’s pardon 49. On February 27, 2012, then President Correa presented in writing before the National Court of Justice and informed his decision of granting "pardon of the judgment in favor of Messrs. Emilio Palacio Urrutia, Carlos Nicolás Pérez Lapentti, Carlos Eduardo Pérez Barriga, César Enrique Pérez Barriga, and the "El Universo" Company, as well as the cancellation of the obligation to pay damages, and the lawyers' waiver of the right to request the payment of costs68. On February 28, 2012, the Criminal Chamber accepted the request for the pardon of the penalty, remission of the payment for damages and procedural costs, and ordered the case to be archived69. 2.4 Facts related to the case 50. On August 24, 2011, the representatives of the newspaper El Universo filed a constitutional motion for precautionary measures before the Tenth Court of Children and Adolescents of Guayas, in order to access the information in the computer equipment of the Fifteenth Court of Criminal Guarantees of Guayas with respect to the defendants. The next day, the court admitted the measure against Judge Oswaldo Sierra Ayora, who at that time was the head judge. The precautionary measure ordered a full copy of the contents of the hard disk of "the computer used by the operator and the information relating to the process" in question. On August 26, the expert and technician of the Council of the Transitional Judiciary, Jaime Martínez, made a copy of the hard disk of the Secretariat of the Court in the presence of a Public Notary and Oswaldo Sierra. On September 2, technical specialist Alex Rivera presented a report on the expertise made with respect to the cloned hard drive. In his report he reached a series of conclusions that show that the computer file that had the text presented in the first instance judgment was not created in the computer equipment of the corresponding court, but that it came from an external team70. 51. On September 7, 2011, the Temporary Provincial Director of the Council of the Judicature instructed ex officio Carlos Ayala Flores, who served as judge of the Eleventh Court of Family, Women, Children and Adolescents of Guayas; Judge Oswaldo Sierra Ayora, who served as Fifteenth Judge of Criminal Guarantees of Guayas; Nelson Gómez Mauilón, who served as Notary Twenty Fifth Substitute of the Guayaquil canton; and the technician Jaime Martínez Jaramillo, who worked as an Assistant of the Informatics Unit of the Provincial Directorate of the Council of the Judiciary of Guayas, having allowed the completion of the diligence. On September 12, 2011, they were suspended in the exercise of their duties for 90 days by the Council of the Transitional Judiciary71. 52. On this point, a series of facts exposed in a public manner and through a public interview given by Mónica Encalada in the media, who acted as a first instance judge in the case temporarily from June 30 to July 16, 2011, exposed a hidden camera recording made by Encalada regarding a conversation held with Juan Paredes, about the judicial case to which Emilio Palacio Urrutia and the executives of El Universo were being subjected, who affirm that Juan Paredes admitted having received from Correa's lawyers the text of the first instance judgment, to which he only made changes in the amount of the conviction72. 53. On the other hand, on September 5, 2011, the Executive Power promulgated Decree No. 872 and declared a "state of exception" in the Judicial Branch for (60) sixty days "in order to resolve the critical 66 Annex 30. Resolution of October 7, 2011. Annex No. 84 of the Initial Petition presented to the IACHR on October 24, 2011. 67 Fact affirmed by the State in its brief of observations submitted to the Commission on December 13, 2016. 68 Annex 31. Correa’s Brief of Pardon. Annex No. 20 of the observations on the merits presented by the State. 69 Annex 32. National Court of Justice of February 28, 2012. Annex No. 21 of the observations on the merits presented by the State. Annex 33. Precautionary measures, admission, notarial deed, and report. Annexes 40, 41, and 42 of the Initial Petition presented to the IACHR on October 24, 2011. 70 71 Annex 34. Summary documents and suspensions. Annexes 43 and 44 of the Initial Petition presented to the IACHR on October 24, 2011. See: El Universo, "Diálogo entre extécnico de la Corte con el ab. Gutemberg Vera", December 13, 2011; El Universo, "Exjudicial confirma que habló con Gutemberg Vera sobre Chucky Seven", December 14, 2011; "Entrevista (23-04-12) Mónica Encalada", 72 12