8
was untimely filed inasmuch as the term established to such end had already expired".
According to the State, the application was notified on May 11, 2007 therefore the period of
time established in Article 36(1) of the Rules of Procedure expired on July 11 of that same
year. Nevertheless, the State argued that the representatives filed their brief containing
pleadings and motions “one day after the expiration of such term".
25.
The Court notes that this issue has been already considered by the President in
Order of March 18, 2008 issued in consultation with all the Judges of the Tribunal, given
fact that the State asserted, using that same argument, that the evidence furnished by
representatives "may not be validly incorporated into the proceeding". In this manner,
President considered the following issues:
the
the
the
the
7.
That […] the President observes that the State has put forward an argument as a
preliminary objection and as ground for its objection as to the admission by the Court of the
testimonial evidence and expert opinions furnished by the representatives. In general, by means
of a procedural act of such nature (preliminary objection), the questioning would be based on the
admissibility of a case or the Jurisdiction of the Court ratione personae, materiae, temporis or loci
to hear a case or some evidence thereof. Therefore, the issue regarding the formal admissibility
of a brief submitted by one of the parties does not constitute per se an issue of preliminary
nature that need to be filed by means of an objection. Nevertheless, this President deems
appropriate to make a decision in such regard, inasmuch as the preliminary issue needs to be
solved in order to continue with the processing of the case. […]
9.
That, according to the usual practice of the Tribunal, the terms are counted, for the
interested party, as from the moment in which a communication is effectively and completely
received at the place designated by the party in order to receive notices and official
communications, via facsimile, normal mail or courier. […]
10.
That, it springs from the records of the case file that the application's brief was notified
via facsimile to the representatives of some of the alleged victims on May 11, 2007 and that on
that same day, it was forwarded via courier together with all the exhibits, which were received by
the representatives on May 14, 2007. In fact, this has been duly informed to the parties by
means of a Secretariat's note of August 30, 2007, after the State would have requested such
information [...] That is, the term to file the brief containing pleadings and motions commenced
to run on May 14, 2007. Given the fact that the representatives' brief was received by the Court
on July 12, 2007, this Presidency verifies that the brief was filed within the corresponding
procedural term and, therefore, the testimonial evidence and expert opinions were furnished in
time fashion. […]19
26.
The State, nevertheless, indicated in its oral arguments put forward during the public
hearing, that, according to the Rules of Procedure, this decision is the responsibility of the
Full Court to make and not of its President or, in any case, it must be decided in the
corresponding judgment on the merits; therefore, by admitting the representatives’ brief,
the Order of the President is void since it violated the Rules of Procedure and deprived the
full Court of the consideration of a case of its exclusive jurisdiction. Based on those
reasons, the State requested the Court that this objection be admitted and the
corresponding autonomous brief be considered acknowledged.
27.
The Court repeats, under the same terms of such President's Order of March 18,
2008, that the issue about the formal admissibility of a brief submitted by one of the parties
does not constitute per se an issue of preliminary nature that need to be put forward by
means of an objection; moreover, the Court deems that this procedural issue has already
been decided by the President in such Order. Based on the foregoing, the Court considers
the first preliminary objection raised by the State to be inadmissible.
B) SECOND PRELIMINARY OBJECTION
19
Order of the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of March 18, 2008.