5 24. On January 12, 2004, the Commission submitted its written arguments on the preliminary objections, in which it requested the Court to reject them. 25. On the same January 12, 2004, the representatives of the victim and his next of kin presented their written arguments concerning the preliminary objections filed by the State, in which they requested that they should be rejected. In addition, they rejected the offer regarding reparations made by Guatemala in the answer to the application (supra para. 22). 26. On March 1, 2004, the President issued an Order in which, in accordance with the principle of procedural economy and exercising the authority granted to him by Article 47(3) of the Rules of Procedure, he notified the Inter-American Commission that the testimony of Mario Alcides Polanco Pérez and the expert witness report of Oscar Ernesto Reyes, proposed by the Commission in its application, should be given before public notary (affidavit). He also requested the State to present a report on the measures taken by Julio Arango Escobar, former Ombudsman, in relation to the instant case. Furthermore, in this Order, the President convened the Inter-American Commission, the representatives of the victim and his next of kin, and the State to a public hearing to be held at the seat of the Court, as of April 26, 2004, to receive their oral arguments on preliminary objections, and possibly on merits, reparations and costs, as well as the statements of the witnesses and the reports of the expert witnesses proposed by the Commission and by the representatives. 27. On March 22, 2004, the Commission presented the statements made before public notary by the expert witness, Oscar Ernesto Reyes, and the witness, Mario Polanco. On March 24, 2004, the Secretariat forwarded these affidavits submitted by the Commission to the State and to the representatives, so that they could forward any pertinent comments. No comments were forwarded. 28. On April 2, 2004, the State submitted several documents from the file in the domestic jurisdiction relating to the measures taken by Julio Arango, former Ombudsman, who had handled the instant case. 29. On April 6, 2004, the State advised that it had designated Herbert Estuardo Meneses Coronado as its Agent, in substitution of Rosa del Carmen Bejarano Girón, and Luis Ernesto Cáceres Rodríguez as Deputy Agent.4 30. On April 26 and 27, the Court held two public hearings at which the following persons appeared: for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Susana Villarán, Delegate; María Claudia Pulido, advisor; and Lilly Ching, advisor; for the representatives of the victim and his next of kin: Viviana Krsticevic, representative; Soraya Long Saborío, representative; and Oswaldo Ruiz, representative; 4 While this case was being processed, the State made some changes in the representatives it had designated before the Court.