7 contribution towards achieving the purpose and aim of the American Convention and the Inter-American System. Further, the Commission also heeds with satisfaction the proposal extended by the State to reach a friendly settlement regarding reparations. The Commission understands this alternative procedure is of great importance for settling violation of human rights cases. In accordance with its prior practice in this matter, the decision of the victim to get involved or not in a procedure of this kind hinges on many personal factors, with the extension of which the Commission does not claim to be acquainted. For this reason, the Commission will wait to hear the victim, Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler, speak his will on this matter. The Rapporteur of the Commission for matters related to Colombia and delegate in the instant case, Mrs. Susana Villarán, […] transmits to this hearing, to the parties and the to the Honorable Court her sincere expression of gratitude for the willingness evidenced by the Republic of Colombia to comply with its human rights obligations through this acceptance of the claim. It is an act that, besides reinforcing the commitment evidenced to the Inter-American System, leads the way to reparation and eradication of violations of the American Convention consisting in inflicting torture on individuals in the custody of Government officials. In the instant case, it is worth noting that the victim, Mr. Wilson Gutiérrez-Soler, has shown an unusual courage, for more than a decade, by reporting his case. With the gesture made today, the State has lived up to the challenge of acknowledging the crime and the denial of justice by apologizing to Mr. Gutiérrez-Soler and his next of kin, and by showing its commitment to redress in full the damage caused, both on individual terms and in such a way as to contribute in the constant endeavor of watching out for events of this nature not to happen again. 30. During the above mentioned public hearing, with respect to the acknowledgment of liability made by the State, the Representatives stated that: We hold the gesture just made by the State of Colombia, in publicly and fully accepting the facts and acknowledging the rights asserted in the application made by the Commission, to be a historical one. It is the first time we see the State of Colombia assuming such a position in a case on trial before the Inter-American System. Not only is it extremely important for this case, after the eleven-year long fight against impunity borne by Wilson and Ricardo Gutiérrez-Soler, as pointed out by the Commission, but it also gives us hope that the State of Colombia will enter a new epoch in its policy toward the Inter-American System. Hence, we wish to express our full satisfaction and our special gratitude for the personal gesture by the Agents of the State, as well as for the efforts made by state officials to make this happen. With regard to the friendly settlement, the instant case has a very particular background […]. We have been deploying our efforts to reach a friendly settlement for two years and, unfortunately, such efforts have not met with success. The victims have expressed that they are not ready, at present, to reopen this phase. We also trust that a judgment of the Inter-American Court on reparations establish a precedent on these matters, not only for Colombia, [but also] for the whole region. 31. On March 10, 2005, after the closing of the first stage of the public hearing, the Court issued an Order in which it decided to deem withdrawn all the preliminary objections raised by Colombia to admit the acknowledgement of international liability made by the State, and to continue holding the public hearing convened by the President’s Order dated February 1, 2005, and to restrict its subject-matter to reparations and indemnities (infra para. 50). In such public hearing The Court heard the statements by the witnesses and expert witnesses who had been summoned