8
expenses submitted in the petitionary clauses of the application. Although the
State's brief was presented seven days after the statutory time limit, the Court
admitted it, applying the criteria of reasonableness and considering that the delay
did not impair the balance that the Court should ensure between the protection of
human rights and legal security and procedural equity. The Secretariat informed the
State of this on February 3, 2001.
V
THE EVIDENCE
*
*
*
DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE
42.
With the application brief, the Commission presented copies of five
documents in five annexes (supra paras. 1 and 12).2
43.
The State did not present any evidence, because its brief answering the
application was rejected by the Court as time-barred (supra paras. 24 and 30).
44.
The Commission forwarded five annexes containing five documents with the
brief concerning expenses requested by the Court (supra para. 38).3
*
*
*
TESTIMONIAL AND EXPERT EVIDENCE
45.
In a public hearing held on November 18, 1999, the Court received the
declarations of two witnesses and the reports of three expert witnesses proposed by
the Inter-American Commission, and also the reports of two expert witnesses
convened by the Court, by virtue of the authority indicated in Article 44(1) of the
2
cf. annex I: copy of the classification document issued by the Cinematographic Classification
Council on November 11, 1996, advising that the Council had reviewed the film The Last Temptation of
Christ and approved it only for persons over 18 years of age; annex II: copy of the judgment of January
20, 1997, delivered by the Court of Appeal of Santiago, admitting the remedy for protection filed by
Sergio García Valdés, Vicente Torres Irarrázabal, Francisco Javier Donoso Barriga, Matías Pérez Cruz,
Jorge Reyes Zapata, Cristian Heerwagen Guzmán y Joel González Castillo, in the name of Jesus Christ, the
Catholic Church and themselves, and annulling the administrative decision of the Cinematographic
Classification Council adopted on November 11, 1996; annex III: copy of the judgment of June 17, 1997,
delivered by the Supreme Court of Justice of Chile, confirming the judgment of the Court of Appeal of
January 20, 1997, which was appealed; annex IV: copy of a draft constitutional reform that eliminates
cinematographic censorship and substitutes it with a classification system that establishes the right to
freedom of artistic creation, and copy of message No. 339-334 issued by the President of the Republic of
Chile on April 14, 1997, to the Chamber of Deputies, supporting this draft reform; and annex V: a copy of
the book “The Last Temptation”, by Nikos Kazantzakis, published by Ediciones Lohlé-Lumen in Buenos
Aires in 1996.
3
cf. Jade Hotel invoice No. 004526 dated November 19, 1999, in the name of José Zalaquett; Jade
Hotel invoice No. 004540 dated November 20, 1999, in the name of the “Asoc. de Abogados por las Libe”;
Jade Hotel invoice No. 004541 dated November 20, 1999, in the name of the “Asoc. de Abogados por las
Libe”; Jade Hotel invoice No. 004542 dated November 20, 1999, in the name of the “Asoc. de Abogados
por las Libe”; and Aeromar Agencia de Viajes Limitada invoice No. 0115909 dated November 16, 1999, in
the name of the “Asoc. de Abogados por las Libertades Públicas.”