3 8. In the brief of preliminary objections the Government requested, in accordance with Article 31(4) of the Rules of Procedure, suspension of the “proceedings on the merits until such time as the preliminary objection is resolved.” The Court, by Order of May 17, 1995, declared the request inadmissible and decided to proceed with the case at its various judicial stages on the grounds that the suspension sought did not meet the requirement of “exceptional situation” and could not be justified on any grounds. 9. On May 5, 1995, the Government submitted its answer to the application. 10. By Order of the President of May 20, 1995, the parties were summoned to a public hearing on preliminary objections to be held at the seat of the Court on September 13 of that year. The Commission orally requested a postponement of the hearing, and the President, by Order of June 30, 1995, acceded to the request and set the hearing for September 23. 11. On May 23, 1995, the Government submitted a brief in which it refuted “the alleged extinguishment of [its] right to file this preliminary objection,” and on August 24, 1995, the Commission requested that the Court deem the brief not to have been filed and to expunge it definitively from the records. On September 18, the President declared that the brief would be evaluated in due course. 12. In a brief of December 29, 1995, the Commission, for its part, presented a copy of the judgment of October 6, 1995, rendered by the Supreme Court of Justice upholding the sentence passed on María Elena Loayza-Tamayo et al. for the crime of terrorism, and on January 22, 1996, the Government requested that the Commission's brief be rejected and considered not to have been filed. On January 30, 1996, the President declared that the brief would be evaluated in due course. 13. The public hearing took place at the seat of the Court on September 23, 1995. There appeared for the Government of Peru: Mario Cavagnaro-Basile, Agent Iván Carluis Fernández-López, Advisor; for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Oscar Luján-Fappiano, Delegate Edith Márquez-Rodríguez, Attorney Domingo E. Acevedo, Attorney José Miguel Vivanco, Assistant Ariel E. Dulitzky, Assistant II