30 115. In addition, the requests for impeachment were made on June 13 and 16, 2003, and May 31 and July 7, 2004. Nonetheless, the Congress, in a heated context of tension between the high courts of Ecuador and the Executive and Legislative branches, decided to terminate the judges of the Constitutional Court on November 25, 2004, and call them to face an impeachment proceeding on December 1. Not having obtained sufficient votes to censure the judges on that occasion, and in the context of a special session convened by the President of the Republic of that purpose, the Congress resolved to vote once again on the impeachment proceedings that concluded on December 1. On December 8, in the second vote, Congress obtained the majority needed to obtain a motion of censure. This sequence of events indicates that in this case, the action of the National Congress was not objective, did not respect the legal procedures, and failed to offer adequate due process guarantees. 116. Consequently, the IACHR concludes that the State did violate the right to be judged by a competent, independent, and impartial authority, enshrined in Article 8.1 of the American Convention in relation to the obligations established in articles 1.1 and 2 of the American Convention, with respect to Miguel Camba Campos, Oswaldo Cevallos Bueno, Enrique Herrería Bonnet, Jaime Nogales Izurieta, Luis Rojas Bajaña, Mauro Terán Cevallos, Simón Zabala Guzmán, and Manuel Jaramillo Córdova. 117. Finally, as for the guarantees provided for in Article 8(2) of the American Convention, it has been established that the termination of the judges of the Constitutional Court was ordered by a resolution of the National Congress, adopted summarily on November 25, 2004, without any information whatsoever that the victims had been afforded any opportunity to defend themselves. To the contrary, the State of Ecuador itself recognized that it was not appropriate to notify the judges of the Constitutional Court of the procedure or to afford them the right of defense. The IACHR already made it clear that pursuant to applicable international standards, in all procedures for removing judges from their positions due process guarantees must be in place, independent of what the procedure may be called in the domestic legislation. 118. As regards the impeachment proceeding against Miguel Camba Campos, Oswaldo Cevallos Bueno, Jaime Nogales Izurieta, Luis Rojas Bajaña, Simón Zabala Guzmán, and Manuel Jaramillo Córdova, in which a hearing was held on December 1, the Commission does not have information regarding these proceedings prior to the termination of November 25, 2004. Nonetheless, the Commission notes that the call to an impeachment proceeding was made beyond the time period provided for by regulation, and in the context of the debate over the removal of the judges of the Constitutional Court. In addition, as regards the second vote of impeachment of December 8, 2004, the Commission considers that according to the information available, it was not a new impeachment, but a repetition of the vote already adopted. In effect, in light of the pressure brought to bear by the President of the Republic by the call to special sessions, the National Congress repeated the vote of impeachment and modified the decision previously adopted on December 1. The information available allows one to conclude that the Congress once again adopted a resolution on a matter already decided without there being a mechanism provided for such purposes, and that the victims did not have the opportunity to participate in this proceeding or to exercise their right to defense. 119. In that connection, and given the express recognition of the State as to the absence of procedural guarantees or of any opportunity to defend themselves in relation to the termination and lack of procedural guarantees in the second vote of impeachment of December 8, 2004, the Commission concludes that the State of Ecuador did also violate the guarantees set out in Article 8.2 of the American Convention, in conjunction with the obligations set out in Articles 1.1 and 2 thereof, with respect to Miguel Camba Campos, Oswaldo Cevallos Bueno, Enrique Herrería Bonnet, Jaime Nogales Izurieta, Luis Rojas Bajaña, Mauro Terán Cevallos, Simón Zabala Guzmán, and Manuel Jaramillo Córdova.