Public Transcript of the Hearing Held on 28 April 2015 in the Case Of
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20150428_STL-11-01_T_T142_OFF_PUB_EN 1/57 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 1 1 Special Tribunal for Lebanon 2 In the case of The Prosecutor v. Ayyash, Badreddine, Merhi, 3 Oneissi, and Sabra 4 STL-11-01 5 Presiding Judge David Re, Judge Janet Nosworthy, 6 Judge Micheline Braidy, Judge Walid Akoum, and 7 Judge Nicola Lettieri - [Trial Chamber] 8 Tuesday, 28 April 2015 - [Trial Hearing] 9 [Open Session] 10 --- Upon commencing at 11.06 a.m. 11 THE REGISTRAR: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is sitting in an 12 open session in the case of the Prosecutor versus Ayyash, Badreddine, 13 Merhi, Oneissi, and Sabra, case number STL-11-01. 14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Good morning to everyone. We are sitting 15 today to hear the evidence of Dr. Atef Majdalani who will shortly be 16 joining us. First could we start with appearances for the parties, 17 starting with the Prosecution. 18 Good morning, Mr. Cameron. 19 MR. CAMERON: Good morning, Your Honour. It's Graeme Cameron for 20 the Prosecution, assisted by Ms. Skye Winner. 21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: For the Legal Representatives of Victims. 22 MR. HAYNES: Good morning, Your Honour. Peter Haynes for the 23 participating victims with Joanna Spek this morning. 24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: For the Defence. 25 MR. AOUN: [Interpretation] Your Honours, good morning. Good Tuesday, 28 April 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150428_STL-11-01_T_T142_OFF_PUB_EN 2/57 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 2 1 morning to all. I am representing the interests of Mr. Salim Ayyash, I 2 am Emile Aoun. Thank you. 3 MR. EDWARDS: Good morning, Your Honour. Iain Edwards, together 4 with Sarah Codde, representing the interests of Mustafa Badreddine. 5 MR. LAROCHELLE: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honours. I 6 am Philippe Larochelle representing the interests of Mr. Oneissi. 7 MR. YOUNG: Your Honours, good morning. Representing the 8 interests of Assad Sabra, David Young. Thank you. 9 MR. KHALIL: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honours. I'm 10 Jad Khalil. I'm representing the interests of Mr. Hassan Merhi. I'm 11 assisted today by Ms. Nathalie Leblanc. 12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And I also notice the presence of two 13 members of the Defence Office in the body of the court today. 14 Mr. Cameron, you have a witness. Can you please give us a brief 15 sketch of the evidence, what we call a road map, please. 16 MR. CAMERON: Of course. The witness today is Dr. Majdalani who 17 is a practicing neurologist. He began working with Rafik Hariri in the 18 political realm in 1996 and was first elected to Parliament in the year 19 2000. As a member of the Prime Minister's Future Bloc, Dr. Majdalani can 20 testify about some of the events surrounding the extension of 21 President Lahoud's term, including conversations which he had prior to 22 the extension with two of the pro-Syrian candidates referred to in past 23 evidence as Syrian deposits on the Prime Minister's 2000 electoral list, 24 the late Adnan Arakji and Dr. Nasser Kandil. Dr. Majdalani can also 25 testify about pressure which was brought to bear upon him personally by a Tuesday, 28 April 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150428_STL-11-01_T_T142_OFF_PUB_EN 3/57 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 3 1 high-ranking member of Syrian military intelligence, General Mohammed 2 Khallouf. Dr. Majdalani can also testify about some of the political 3 events following the extension of President Lahoud, including such issues 4 as the Prime Minister's relationship with the Syrian regime, his decision 5 to exclude pro-Syrian candidates from his 2005 electoral list, and the 6 various political alliances which the Prime Minister developed in order 7 to be in a position to be successful in the May 2005 elections. 8 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And could you take it a step further and 9 just tell us the significance of this evidence to the Prosecution case in 10 a nutshell. 11 MR. CAMERON: The significance is two-fold. One is in respect of 12 the pressure that Dr. Majdalani personally experienced prior to the 13 extension of President Lahoud, it demonstrates the degree to which Syria 14 was intent to influence the internal politics and governance of Lebanon. 15 And as I indicated in the submissions relating to the general background 16 political evidence, this general interference is relevant to the 17 non-personal motives of others that is open to you to consider as 18 connected with the assassination of the Prime Minister, which the 19 Prosecution alleges to be a political assassination. 20 Second, Dr. Majdalani's evidence about some of the timing, 21 particularly when the deposits, i.e., the pro-Syrian candidates, were 22 informed of the Prime Minister's decision that they would not be included 23 in the 2005 electoral list will connect with a number of other events, 24 particularly telephone communications in evidence which is to follow. 25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you, Mr. Cameron. Is Dr. Majdalani Tuesday, 28 April 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150428_STL-11-01_T_T142_OFF_PUB_EN 4/57 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Atef Majdalani –PRH491 (Open Session) Page 4 Procedural Matters 1 still a Member of Parliament? 2 MR. CAMERON: Yes, he is. 3 [The witness entered court] 4 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Good morning to you, Dr. Majdalani. Can you 5 please take the solemn declaration. 6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will 7 speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 8 WITNESS: ATEF MAJDALANI 9 [Witness answered through interpreter] 10 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Before we start, I'd just like to get some 11 personal details from you, and all I need you to do is tell me whether 12 I've got them correct or not, you can just say "yes" or correct them. 13 The details are the following. Can you please confirm that you are 14 Dr. Atef Majdalani. You were born in 1948 in Beirut. You are a Lebanese 15 national, and you are a Member of the Lebanese Parliament as well as 16 being very well medically qualified? 17 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes. 18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. I'm going to start, this may sound a 19 little bit boring, I know you speak Russian, French, English, and Arabic, 20 which is quite -- which puts some of us here to shame, which means you 21 can follow the proceedings in the three languages we're using here. Now, 22 that has its advantages and disadvantages. And one of the advantages is 23 if you can hear it in English and French and you're going to answer in 24 Arabic, sometimes you might jump in and answer before it's been 25 translated for everybody else. So I'm just going to ask you to be very Tuesday, 28 April 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150428_STL-11-01_T_T142_OFF_PUB_EN 5/57 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Atef Majdalani –PRH491 (Open Session) Page 5 Examination by Mr. Cameron 1 cognisant of the fact that we have interpreters in the booths up there 2 doing simultaneous translation and our court reporter sitting in the 3 corner there. I would ask you if you could just look at the screen in 4 front of you to your left, there is a screen which has a transcript on 5 it. If you could glance to that and when the words stop, that's when you 6 can speak. 7 Mr. Cameron. 8 Examination by Mr. Cameron: 9 Q. Good morning, Dr. Majdalani. 10 A. Good morning. 11 Q. By way of background, Dr. Majdalani, I understand that you're a 12 physician and, in fact, a neurologist and that you studied medicine at 13 Leningrad University from 1969 to 1976 and then neurology in France from 14 1979 to 1993, and that you worked in France as a neurologist and was 15 appointed as a professor in several hospitals in Paris during the 13 or 16 14 years that you stayed in France. Is that generally correct? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And around 1993 you returned from France to Beirut, where you 19 began to practice at St. Georges Hospital where you continue to practice 20 up until today in addition to your role as a Member of the Chamber of 21 Deputies; is that right? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. Now, I understand that in 1996 you started to work in politics 24 with the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and were nominated as a 25 candidate in his electoral bloc during those years, but at your first Tuesday, 28 April 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150428_STL-11-01_T_T142_OFF_PUB_EN 6/57 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Atef Majdalani –PRH491 (Open Session) Page 6 Examination by Mr. Cameron 1 outing in politics you were unsuccessful. You tried again in the year 2 2000 and you were elected to the Chamber of Deputies; is that correct? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. And throughout the period of your political career up until the 5 late Prime Minister's assassination, were you aligned politically with 6 Rafik Hariri? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. And which area of Lebanon did you represent as a Member of 9 Parliament? 10 A.