4 Huehuetenango. That report had been requested by the President during the public hearing held in this case. 16. On July 21 and November 9, 1998, the Court asked the family of Nicholas Blake, as evidence to help the Court arrive at a more informed judgment, for certified copies of their birth certificates and the birth certificate of Mr. Nicholas Blake; a certified copy of Nicholas Blake’s professional degree or an appropriate document that corroborates his academic degree; a record of his salary or receipts that corroborate his income, and mortality tables for the United States of America for the years 1985, 1987, 1992, as well as the current mortality tables. On November 9, 1998, the Court asked Guatemala, as evidence to help the Court arrive at a more informed judgment, for official certification of the tables for the exchange rate between the Quetzal and the U.S. dollar for the years 1985, 1987, and 1992 and the rate in effect at that time. 17. On August 19 and December 24, 1998, respectively, the family of Mr. Nicholas Blake submitted a copy of the birth certificate of Richard Blake Jr. and certified copies of the passports of Mary Anderson Blake, Richard Randolph Blake, and Samuel Wheaton Blake, and the documentation requested by the Court on November 9, 1998. 18. On December 17, 1998, Francis B. Coombs, Jr. submitted a writing concerning the personal and professional characteristics of Mr. Nicholas Blake. 19. On January 12, 1999, the State sent the documentation that was requested on November 9, 1998. IV PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 20. For the decision on reparations in the present case, the Court considers it necessary to bear in mind the following points: a. that in its July 2, 1996 Judgment on Preliminary Objections, the Court declared itself incompetent to decide on the alleged responsibility of the State for the detention and death of Mr. Nicholas Blake, which occurred prior to Guatemala’s acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the Court; b. that is the above cited judgment, the Court also determined that certain effects of the actions of which Mr. Nicholas Blake was a victim continued until June 14, 1992, when his remains were established, a date which is subsequent to Guatemala’s acceptance of the contentious jurisdiction of the Court. Consequently, the Court declared itself competent to rule on possible violations of the Convention resulting from the effects, conduct, and acts which occurred after that acceptance. c. that in the judgment on the merits in the present case, rendered on January 24, 1998, the Court, in view of the partial acceptance of responsibility on the part of Guatemala, presumed to be true all facts related to the delay of justice until 1995, and determined that all facts relating to the obstruction of justice had effects up to the time the judgment was rendered, inasmuch as the case initiated by the death of Blake was still pending in the domestic courts.