5 25. On March 1, 2004 the State appointed Alejandro Sánchez Garrido as Judge ad hoc to hear the instant case. 26. On March 11, 2004 the Commission submitted the testimony of Benjamín Manuel Jerónimo and Eulalio Grave Ramírez and the expert opinions of Luis Rodolfo Ramírez García and José Fernando Moscoso Möller, all of them rendered before a notary public. On March 12 and 15, 2004 the Secretariat forwarded to the representatives to the State, respectively, the aforementioned affidavits sent by the Commission, for them to submit such observations as they might deem pertinent. No observations were submitted. 27. On April 6, 2004 the State reported that it had appointed Herbert Estuardo Meneses Coronado as its agent, substituting Rosa del Carmen Bejarano Girón, and Luis Ernesto Cáceres Rodríguez as its Deputy Agent.3 28. On April 21, 2004 the Instituto Comparado de Ciencias Penales en Guatemala (ICCPG), the Centro de Estudios sobre Justicia y Participación (CEJIP) and the Instituto de Estudios comparados en Ciencias Penales y Sociales (INECIP) submitted an amici curiae brief. 29. On April 23, 2004 the Court held two public hearings, at which there appeared: for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Susana Villarán, Delegate; María Claudia Pulido, advisor; and Isabel Madariaga, advisor; for the representatives of the victims and their next of kin: Fernando Arturo López Antillón, representative; Lucy Turner, representative; and Juan Pablo Pons, representative; for the State of Guatemala: Herbert Estuardo Meneses Coronado, Agent; Luis Ernesto Cáceres Rodríguez, Deputy Agent; and Mayra Alarcón Alba, Executive Director of COPREDEH; witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Juan Manuel Jerónimo; Narcisa Corazón Jerónimo; and Buenaventura Manuel Jerónimo; expert witnesses proposed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Augusto Willemsen-Díaz; and Nieves Gómez Dupuis. 3 During the processing of the instant case, the State made some changes in the appointment of its representatives before the Court.