-5- After receiving the respective observations, the Court confirmed all aspects of the President’s order in an order of January 25, 2010.8 9. The public hearing was held on January 26 and 27, 2010, during the Court’s eighty-sixth regular session at its seat in San José, Costa Rica.9 10. On February 8, 2010, the “Unión de Organizaciones Democráticas de América (UnoAmérica)” forwarded an amicus curiae brief. 11. On March 1, 2010, the Commission, the representatives and the State submitted their final written arguments. 12. On February 5, 2010, the Court requested the Commission and the State to provide information and documentation as helpful evidence.10 In response, on February 19, 2010, the Commission only forwarded a report by the State. On February 15, 2010, the Court granted the State additional time to send the information requested, and this was received in part on February 19 and 22, 2010. On March 1, 2010, the Secretariat of the Court, on the instructions of the President, asked the State to send, by March 8, 2010, at the latest, the documentation that was illegible or incomplete or that had not been forwarded. Regarding the request for a file of the investigation conducted by the office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation, on March 4, 2010, the State expressed its concern owing to the confidential nature of the investigations under domestic law. In a note of March 12, 2010, the State was again 8 Order issued by the Inter-American Court on January http://www.corteidh.or.cr/ docs/asuntos/Cepeda_25_01_10.pdf 25, 2010, available [in Spanish] at: 9 At this hearing there appeared: (a) for the Inter-American Commission, Luz Patricia Mejía, President and delegate, Santiago Canton, Executive Secretary and delegate, Karin Mansel, Lilly Ching Soto and Juan Pablo Albán Alencastro, advisers; (b) for the representatives of the alleged victims, Rafael Barrios Mendivil, Alirio Uribe Muñoz, Jomary Ortegón Osorio and Ximena González for the Colectivo de Abogados “José Alvear Restrepo” (CCAJAR), and Viviana Krsticevic, Francisco Quintana and Michael Camilleri for CEJIL and (c) for the State, Ángela Margarita Rey Anaya, Juana Inés Acosta López, Martha Cecilia Maya Calle, Agents; Luis Guillermo Fernández Correa, Ambassador of Colombia to the Republic of Costa Rica, Carlos Franco Echaverría, Director of the Presidential Human Rights Program, Felipe Medina Ardila, Coordinator of the Inter-institutional Operations Group, and Henry Serrano Calderón, Adviser to the Inter-institutional Operations Group. 10 The Court in plenary asked the State to remit the following documentation by February 15, 2010, at the latest, in accordance with Article 47 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court: “copy of the case file or the proceedings in relation to Investigation No. 329 of the 26th Special Prosecutor of the Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit. […] In particular, the documents to be provided include those with information on the results of the investigations conducted on Edilson Jiménez Ramírez (alias “el Ñato”), and also the procedures conducted and the results obtained in order to determine the existence and scope of the alleged “coup de grâce plan” or any other plans to murder Patriotic Union members of Congress and presidential candidates, including Manuel Cepeda Vargas, to which the parties, witnesses and expert witnesses have referred in this case”; and copy of various documents contained in the file of Investigation No. 172 of the National Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Unit, mentioned in the indictment of October 20, 1997, according to attachment 54 to the brief answering the application. In addition, it requested a copy of the information and documentation held by the Justice and Peace Unit of the office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation on the legal status of Edilson de Jesús Jiménez Ramírez (alias “El Ñato”), José Vicente Castaño Gil, and Diego Fernando Murillo Bejarano (alias “Don Berna”); whether they took advantage of the demobilization procedures and, if so, under which law; their current legal status, and whether reference has been made to the death of Patriotic Union members of Congress and presidential candidates, including that of Manuel Cepeda Vargas, in their statements or in investigations. The Court also asked for a transcript of any versión libre statements made by Ever (or Hebert) Veloza (alias “HH”), concerning the death of Patriotic Union members of Congress and presidential candidates, including that of Manuel Cepeda Vargas, in addition to the information already forwarded by the State in its answer to the application; copy of several documents delivered to the Director of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Director of International Affairs of the office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation on June 17, 2009; copy of the measures taken by the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá and the office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation regarding the alleged or supposed detention of five individuals on August 22 or 23, 1994, by the said Police, in relation to the murder of Manuel Cepeda Vargas. Regarding the above, the Inter-American Commission was asked to forward any pertinent information concerning the precautionary measures ordered on June 25, 2006, in favor of Iván Cepeda, Claudia Girón and Emberth Barrios Guzmán.