2 […] 3. The September 29, 2003 brief and its annex, by means of which the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Inter-American Commission” or “the Commission”) submitted to the Inter-American Court, pursuant to Articles 63(2) of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” or “the American Convention”), 25 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court (hereinafter “the Rules of Procedure”) and 74 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, a request for expansion of provisional measures in the Luisiana Ríos et al. case, in favor of Carlos Colmenares, Noé Pernía, and Pedro Nikken, employees of the television station Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). 4. The grounds stated by the Commission in its request for expansion of the provisional measures (supra Having Seen 3), summarized as follows: a. on January 29, 2002 the Commission adopted precautionary measures in favor of “the journalists working for RCTV and GLOBOVISIÓN.” These measures were to be in force six months and were extended for another six months on July 29, 2002 and on March 14, 2003; b. in its March 14, 2003 decision, the Commission requested that protection be granted to other employees of RCTV and Globovisión, including Noé Pernía, Carlos Colmenares, and Pedro Nikken; c. the precautionary measures ordered by the Commission to protect the lives and the right to humane treatment of the RCTV journalists were ineffective; d. 39 complaints were filed before the Public Prosecutor’s Office for threats, harassment, and attacks against “RCTV journalists,” including acts of that nature against Carlos Colmenares, Noé Pernía, and Pedro Nikken. The situation of these three specific persons has worsened; e. on August 19, 2003 the team of reporters of RCTV’S “El Observador”, formed by reporter Pedro Nikken and cameraman Carlos Comenares, was covering a peaceful demonstration near “Las Acacias”, a residential development in Caracas, called “El Cohetazo” and summoned by Coordinadora Democrática. A police squad from the Office of the Mayor of Libertador Municipality, under orders from Mayor Freddy Bernal, of the ruling party “MVR”, repressed and dissolved the demonstration with tear gas and “long firearms,” dangerously shooting pellets at the demonstrators. Carlos Colmenares was wounded by pellets in his arm and right leg. This was the second time that Pedro Nikken’s “reporting crew” was attacked with firearms, the first attack having occurred on November 12, 2002, as stated by Armando Amaya in his testimony before the Court; f. on August 21, 2003 RCTV reporter Noé Pernía was “singled out, attacked and verbally threatened” by Lina Ron, a leader of the “Círculos Bolivarianos,” while he was covering a labor union protest by a group of employees of the Office of the Mayor of Libertador Municipality. This threat “is a grave one as it was made by a well-known person, whose ability to influence the Círculos Bolivarianos is widely recognized;”