3
8.
Order[ed] the initiation of the reparations phase and entrust[ed] the pertinent
actions to its President.
III
PROCEEDINGS AT THE REPARATIONS STAGE
4.
On May 21, 1998, the President of the Court (hereinafter “the President”)
decided:
1.
To grant the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights until July 21, 1998,
to submit a brief and any evidence it has for determining the reparations in this case.
2.
To grant the victims and, when appropriate, their next of kin, until July 21,
1998, to submit a brief and any evidence they have for determining the reparations in
this case.
3.
To grant the State of Guatemala two calendar months to submit a brief and any
evidence it has for determining the reparations in this case. This period {will] begin on
the day that the State receives the briefs of the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights and of the victims or, when appropriate, their next of kin.
5.
On May 25, 1998, the Secretariat of the Court (hereinafter “the Secretariat”)
requested the organizations indicated as petitioners in the application in this case,
pursuant to the provisions of Article 23 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court
(hereinafter “the Rules of Procedure”), to submit the powers of attorney authorizing
them to represent the victims or the victims’ next of kin, and also a single address
where the communications of the Court should be notified. On August 21, 1998, the
Secretariat reiterated this request to the representatives of the victims or the
victims’ next of kin. On September 8, 1998, the Center for Justice and International
Law (CEJIL) and Human Rights Watch/Americas informed the Court that they would
not represent any of the victims in this case during the reparations stage.
6.
On July 16, 1998, German Giovanni Paniagua Morales, brother of Anna
Elizabeth Paniagua Morales, sent a letter in which he requested information on the
case. On July 20, 1998, on the instructions of the President, the Secretariat
informed him that the reparations stage of the case was pending before the Court
and notified him of the order to open this stage issued by the President (supra
4/infra 9), and also the letter addressed to the legal representatives of the
petitioners on May 25, 1998.
7.
On July 17, 1998, the Commission advised that it would be
loco to Guatemala from August 6 to 11, 1998, at which time it
establish contact with several of the victims’ next of kin in the
Owing to the foregoing, it requested the Court to extend the period
observations on reparations.
making a visit in
would try to recase sub judice.
for submitting its
8.
On July 20, 1998, Mark Martel, the representative of the next of kin of Oscar
Vásquez, Anna Elizabeth Paniagua Morales and Manuel de Jesús González López,
indicated that he was awaiting information on the claims for compensation of the
Vásquez and Paniagua Morales families in order to forward a brief on reparations and
therefore requested a one-month extension for the submission of this document.
9.
On July 20, 1998, the President decided: