20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 1/98

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, 31 May 2016 - [Trial Hearing]

9 [Open Session]

10 --- Upon commencing at 10.05 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.

15 Can we please take appearances, starting with the Prosecution.

16 Good morning, Mr. Cameron.

17 MR. CAMERON: Good morning. It's Graeme Cameron for the

18 Prosecution, assisted by Ms. Tanja Zekaj and Mr. Leroy Stockton.

19 MR. HAYNES: Good morning, Your Honour. Peter Haynes for the

20 participating victims, assisted today by Kinga Tibori-Szabo and Kiat Wei

21 Ng.

22 MR. AOUN: Your Honours, good morning. Good morning, everyone.

23 Emile Aoun, Thomas Hannis, Chad Mair, and Scott Johnstone. And we are

24 representing the interests of Mr. Salim Ayyash. Thank you.

25 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honours.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 2/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 2

1 Antoine Korkmaz representing the rights and interest of Mr. Mustafa Amine

2 Badreddine, assisted by Ms. Dimitri, Mr. Edwards, as well as Ms. Sipala.

3 Thank you.

4 MS. WISTINGHAUSEN: Good morning, Your Honour, Natalie von

5 Wistinghausen representing the interests of Mr. Oneissi. Thank you.

6 MR. YOUNG: Your Honours, good morning. Representing the

7 interests of Mr. Assad Sabra, David Young, along with Mr. Geoffrey

8 Roberts.

9 MR. KHALIL: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honours, ladies

10 and gentlemen, Jad Khalil and Dorothee Le Fraper du Hellen representing

11 the interests of Mr. Hassan Merhi. Thank you.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And I note the presence of two

13 representatives of the Defence Office, including the head of Defence

14 Office.

15 This morning we're going to hear evidence and legal submissions

16 in relation to Mr. Mustafa Amine Badreddine. The Prosecution has

17 provided the parties and the Chamber with the evidence it's going to

18 present. We've had a look through that. And counsel for Mr. Badreddine,

19 Mr. Korkmaz, has also provided us with some material. And I understand

20 the Legal Representative of Victims will also, if not be presenting

21 material, be making submissions.

22 So the way we'll proceed is we'll hear the evidence first from

23 the Prosecutor and any other parties that have anything of an evidentiary

24 matter to add and then we'll proceed to submissions.

25 Thank you, Mr. Cameron.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 3/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 3

1 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. For the benefit of all and the members

2 of the public, I thought that perhaps I could provide a short summary of

3 what brought us here today, and that began on the 13th of May of this

4 year when the Lebanese media began airing and publishing reports from

5 various sources that Mustafa Amine Badreddine had been killed in an

6 explosion in Syria.

7 The Court was not scheduled to sit that day nor on the following

8 Monday, the 16th of May. But when we resumed on the 17th of May, in

9 light of the reports of Mr. Badreddine's passing, the Trial Chamber

10 considered it appropriate to adjourn the proceedings until the stage was

11 reached when it could consider the issue in the context of an appropriate

12 evidentiary basis.

13 On Wednesday the 18th of May, the prosecutor-general of the

14 office of the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation in Lebanon,

15 issued a report to the attention of the president of the Tribunal, Judge

16 Ivana Hrdlickova. This particular report is one which is prepared

17 monthly in the normal course to address the ongoing efforts of the

18 Lebanese authorities to apprehend the five accused identified in the

19 consolidated indictment before you.

20 Now, at that time the prosecutor-general was not in a position to

21 provide any official documentation issued by the Lebanese authorities

22 regarding the death of Mr. Badreddine. And in consequence, on the

23 following day, the 19th of May, 2016, a request for assistance, number

24 2016/RFA0113/LEB/GRC was sent to the prosecutor-general by the office of

25 the Prosecutor asking for additional forms of confirmation regarding the

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 4/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 4

1 death of Mustafa Badreddine and included the following requests: For a

2 certified copy of the death certificate, together with certified copies

3 of all documents, reports, or other documentation submitted to the

4 Lebanese authorities in support of their verification of the death and/or

5 the circumstances of the death.

6 And, in addition, the request was for a certified copy of any

7 report compiled by or in the possession of Hezbollah or others regarding

8 the death of Mustafa Amine Badreddine, including information relevant to

9 the circumstances of the death, location, associated victims, and imagery

10 of the scene of death.

11 Now, as the Trial Chamber is aware, the usual evidence offered by

12 a party to a judicial body in support of a submission that an accused is

13 deceased is a certificate, often termed a death certificate, issued by

14 the state in which the accused died attesting to the fact of his death.

15 In this case, we do not understand that a death certificate has been

16 issued by the Lebanese authorities, and it's important to emphasize that

17 the Office of the Prosecutor does not in any way find fault with the

18 Lebanese authorities, and in particular the prosecutor-general, who has

19 worked, as he always does, diligently on this issue.

20 There are a number of contributing factors for the fact that no

21 death certificate is available to be provided to the Trial Chamber, but

22 among them two might be said to be principal factors. The first is that

23 there was an acknowledgement by Hezbollah that Mustafa Badreddine was its

24 top military commander at the time of his death and that he was actively

25 engaged in military duties in Syria when he was killed. This means, in

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 5/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 5

1 effect, that Hezbollah assumed exclusive jurisdiction and control over

2 the investigation of Mr. Badreddine's death in Syria, the transportation

3 of his body to Lebanon, the organization of his funeral, and his

4 internment in Hezbollah's Martyr's Shrine.

5 There appears to have been no involvement by the Lebanese

6 authorities as one might expect for a civilian who is not an active

7 member of Hezbollah's military.

8 Second, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, the

9 leading figure of that organization, has, as you'll see a little later,

10 stated that he does not afford the appropriate degree of respect for the

11 Special Tribunal for Lebanon and is unlikely, for reasons of his own, to

12 cooperate with any requests made by the Special Tribunal in connection

13 with Mr. Badreddine's death.

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, are you able to tell us about

15 the status of Hezbollah in relation to what you've described as the

16 exclusive jurisdiction and control over the investigation of

17 Mr. Badreddine's death in Syria and the transportation of his body to

18 Lebanon?

19 MR. CAMERON: Yes, I'll be going through a series of events that

20 number ten in number, and you'll see that in respect of each of the

21 events, whether they are statements, ceremonies, the funeral, or other

22 matters, they have all been organized and participated in by Hezbollah.

23 So it's our understanding that Hezbollah maintained control over the

24 transportation of the body back to Lebanon and over the funeral services

25 and the internment in a shrine that they have termed their Martyr's

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 6/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 6

1 Shrine.

2 The information, my information, and the circumstances from which

3 you can find that Hezbollah exerted that control is circumstantial from

4 the nature of the evidence. I have no further information beyond which

5 I'll be offering you.

6 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I'll clarify what I was asking. I was more

7 interested in the legal status of Hezbollah in relation to an

8 investigation. Would it be your submission that it's the status that any

9 organization with a military wing has, that is, legal status in relation

10 to investigation of matters internal for that organization? For example,

11 if there are matters of military discipline or whatever happens on the

12 battlefield or within the ranks.

13 MR. CAMERON: It's not my position that Hezbollah has de jure

14 control in the sense of absolute jurisdiction over the death of one of

15 its military members. That is, it's my submission that while they

16 exercise de facto control, there was at least concurrent jurisdiction

17 with the Lebanese authorities to make inquiries into the circumstances of

18 the death of one of its citizens and to verify the fact of that death.

19 But the de facto control that appears to have been exercised has also

20 appeared to preclude that concurrent investigation by the Lebanese

21 authorities. At least there are no fruits of it that I can offer you

22 today.

23 So as things stand today, the Office of the Prosecutor has no

24 information from the Lebanese authorities on two separate issues: One,

25 whether a death certificate might be issued and -- sorry, when a death

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 7/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 7

1 certificate might be issued; and second, whether there is any reasonable

2 expectation that such a certificate would be issued on the basis of any

3 additional evidence beyond that which is presently available to you,

4 particularly in light of Hezbollah's involvement and their general

5 position.

6 Now, having regard to these factors and the fact there are

7 ongoing proceedings before you which should not be delayed or postponed

8 unnecessarily, the question then becomes whether the Trial Chamber is

9 able to and should consider the issue of Mr. Badreddine's death in the

10 absence of a formal death certificate or other official documentation

11 from the Lebanese authorities.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you, Mr. Cameron. Are you going to

13 tell us about the process for issuing death certificates either in

14 Lebanon or Syria at some point?

15 MR. CAMERON: I'm not myself an expert in the issuance of death

16 certificates, and I understand that there are a number of mechanisms, but

17 the principal issue for you today is: A, I cannot tell you with any

18 reasonable degree of certainty when a death certificate might be issued;

19 and, second, I cannot tell you whether if such a death certificate were

20 issued whether it would be based on any additional evidence, no matter

21 the form.

22 We have asked for a number of things to be undertaken in respect

23 of verification of Mr. Badreddine's death, and to date we are in a

24 position where what we have is what we can offer you today, and it will

25 be either sufficient for you to make a determination or it will not.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 8/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 8

1 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, I understand that. But how will the

2 Chamber become informed of the mechanism for either the Lebanese

3 authorities or the Syrian authorities, if appropriate, issuing a death

4 certificate? What is the formal mechanism, what they have to do to be

5 satisfied to issue one?

6 MR. CAMERON: I'll try and answer that question in due course

7 before the conclusion of the parties' submissions, and there may be

8 common ground as to what the practice is. I understand there are at

9 least two avenues for an application for a death certificate, but I would

10 like to consult with my friends and see if we can come up with a common

11 understanding that we can agree upon.

12 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: At this stage, Mr. Cameron, have you formed an

13 opinion as to which state should issue a death certificate in respect of

14 the accused, whether it ought to be Syria or it ought to be the Lebanon,

15 or is it a case where we need further facts as to the circumstances of

16 death in order to reach a finding in that regard?

17 MR. CAMERON: I'm not sure of the answer to your question. I can

18 tell you that in the case of Imad Mughniyeh, who also died in Syria, the

19 OTP obtained a death certificate from Syria with respect to him. In my

20 view, there is concurrent jurisdiction in both Lebanon and Syria to

21 consider issuing a death certificate, and the fine-tuning of that legal

22 argument as to who should issue is unknown to me, and that is why we have

23 asked for the assistance of the prosecutor-general to undertake whatever

24 efforts he considers necessary either to have a death certificate

25 obtained from Lebanon or to seek a death certificate from Syria on our

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 9/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 9

1 behalf.

2 Just to -- I know that you had intended to receive legal

3 submissions later, but it might be of benefit for me to make short

4 submissions on a single case now because some of the facts will

5 correspond as we go through to some of the issues raised in this

6 particular case, which is a case not that long ago decided on the 4th of

7 October, 2013. It's a case from the International Criminal Court, ICC

8 number 2/05-03/09, and the title of the case is "Prosecutor versus

9 Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus," I'll

10 refer to it as the Jerbo case from now on you.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Do you have better information on the facts

12 in that case than is in the decision itself? The decision which has been

13 issued publicly is heavily redacted as to the facts in relation to

14 Mr. Jerbo's death. The question is do you have better information than

15 is available in the public decision?

16 MR. CAMERON: I don't. I understand and I did inquire whether it

17 would be possible to obtain better facts, and I was advised that the

18 redactions applied to my inquiries and everybody else's inquiries, so I'm

19 not in a position to provide you with anything underlying the redactions

20 which was a confidential decision.

21 But in general terms, the dicta of the court is perhaps the most

22 instructive, and I think that it may be that in the light of the evidence

23 that you've either reviewed or will see from the Prosecution and from the

24 other parties, that you will at least be able to consider the issue.

25 So in the Jerbo case, the defence counsel notified the Chamber

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 10/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 10

1 that, like we had on Friday, the 13th, it had received news that

2 Mr. Jerbo had died in North Darfur and was buried the same day, and the

3 Defence in that case filed submissions requesting the termination of the

4 proceedings. And the Prosecution didn't object but submitted that the

5 proceedings should be terminated without prejudice, and they noted that

6 it was a common practice in ad hoc tribunals and that a complete

7 termination of the proceedings is only possible when conclusive evidence

8 of death is provided. And the Prosecution itself requested that the

9 Court seek to obtain a death certificate from what in North Darfur was

10 known as the Popular Committee.

11 The common legal representative objected to the termination of

12 the proceedings, and he argued that it was possible to obtain an official

13 death certificate, and that under international law such a certificate

14 was a prerequisite to the termination of proceedings.

15 Now, the Defence responded and distinguished the case of

16 Mr. Jerbo from the cases otherwise cited, saying that none of the cases

17 cited dealt with national authorities who were not willing to assist but

18 were actively hostile to the court. The Chamber noted in passing that

19 the practice before international tribunals is to provide a death

20 certificate issued by an official governing body before terminating the

21 proceedings against an accused. However, according to the Chamber, a

22 death certificate was not mandatory to terminate the proceedings, and a

23 death certificate obtained from the Popular Committee is not significant

24 since it cannot reliably confirm the death of Mr. Jerbo. The Chamber has

25 a discretion to consider any evidence according to the particular

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 11/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 11

1 circumstances of every case. That's at paragraphs 18 to 21 of the

2 judgement.

3 And at paragraph 18, the court explicitly held the following:

4 "It is not persuaded that the production of a death certificate

5 is an essential prerequisite to the termination of proceedings ...

6 instead, it is one of the avenues available to the Chamber to prove the

7 relevant fact; namely, that the person is deceased. In seeking to

8 establish this fact, nothing prevents the Chamber from considering

9 evidence other than an official death certificate."

10 The Chamber also noted that in that case it was highly unlikely

11 that such an official death certificate would be issued in relation to

12 Mr. Jerbo in the near future and it felt obliged to examine the

13 information, which was circumstantial, on the record.

14 And based on the presented evidence, the trial chamber ruled that

15 despite the fact that it was not possible to prove with certainty the

16 death of the accused, the proceedings should nevertheless be terminated

17 without prejudice, to resume if information became available that the

18 accused was in fact alive. The chamber held:

19 "The circumstances of the case at hand are unusual in that it is

20 not possible to obtain an official death certificate or otherwise safely

21 explore other measures to prove with certainty Mr. Jerbo's death, for

22 example, exhumation followed by a DNA analysis. In the circumstances,

23 the Chamber is of the view that it is appropriate to terminate the case

24 against Mr. Jerbo without prejudice to resume such proceedings should

25 information become available that he is alive instead of proceeding by

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 12/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 12

1 severing the case against him. Should there be a need to reopen the case

2 against Mr. Jerbo, the case shall proceed from the stage of the

3 proceedings at which it currently stands."

4 So if the Trial Chamber considers that other available forms of

5 evidence as to the death of Mr. Badreddine should be considered, I'm in a

6 position to do that now. And that evidence, at least the evidence to be

7 presented by the Prosecution, basically exists in four different forms.

8 There are published reports with photographs in the Lebanese media and

9 foreign media of the death of Mr. Badreddine, there are video records of

10 events associated with Mr. Badreddine's death and burial, there are

11 addresses delivered by senior members of the clergy, relatives of

12 Mr. Badreddine, and members of Hezbollah, and there are also

13 investigator's notes which serve to explain aspects of the evidence,

14 including the nature of some of the media outlets, the identification of

15 certain persons in the video-clips, and the location of particular

16 events.

17 I mentioned earlier that there are ten events around which this

18 mass of information can be organized, and these events are the following:

19 First, there is the evidence regarding the initial reports of

20 Mr. Badreddine's demise which were published in various media sources.

21 Second, there is a video of a condolence ceremony in the Mujtaba complex

22 held on the 13th of May, 2016. Third, there are funeral speeches

23 delivered on the 13th of May over the casket of Mr. Badreddine. Fourth,

24 there is video footage of a funeral procession, again on the 13th of May,

25 from the complex to Martyr's Cemetery. Fifth, there is video footage of

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 13/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 13

1 the casket entering Martyr's Cemetery in order to be interred on the 13th

2 of May. Sixth, on the 14th of May, there is a statement from Hezbollah

3 relating to the cause of death and the result of their investigations.

4 Seven, again on the 14th of May, there is the visit by an Iranian

5 delegation to Mr. Badreddine's grave site in Martyr's Cemetery. Eight,

6 on the 18th of May, there is a ceremony at the Sayyed Zeinab mosque in

7 Damascus attended by relatives of Mr. Badreddine. Nine, there is a

8 ceremony held in Beirut on the 20th of May during which speeches were

9 delivered by Mr. Badreddine's brother and significantly by Sayyed Hassan

10 Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah. And finally, the tenth

11 event is a ceremony in Tehran also attended by Mr. Badreddine's relatives

12 on the 24th of May.

13 Now, some of the challenges in presenting this evidence arises

14 from the fact that we have in some cases video footage and translation of

15 various parts of either speakers or the voice-over of announcers, and we

16 also have investigator's notes identifying both locations and some of the

17 people who appear in the video. And it may be that not everything will

18 be able to be presented simultaneously. The video-clips that I intended

19 to present to you are not long. While the ceremony lasted the entirety

20 of the day, we have tried to isolate video-clips of between one and four

21 minutes each.

22 So I'm in your hands as to how exactly you want me to proceed but

23 my thought was to present the video-clip first, then to show you the

24 translation, and then to take you to the investigator's note, and if

25 necessary back to the video-clip if what was in the investigator's note

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 14/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 14

1 was unclear.

2 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, Mr. Cameron, that works. I'm just

4 working out the mechanism for receiving these into evidence but separate

5 to the main proceedings, so I'm just getting the court officer to devise

6 a new numbering system. So let's proceed.

7 MR. CAMERON: The first item is an item in Arabic, which is found

8 at position 1 of the Prosecution's presentation queue with an ERN number

9 of D0498819 to 825. And, in essence, it is an article in Arabic from the

10 web site of a media outlet called Al-Manar with a photograph reporting

11 Hezbollah's announcement of the death of Mustafa Badreddine. That

12 article is dated the 13th of May, 2016. If that can be displayed,

13 please.

14 It's really just the first two pages of this article that are of

15 interest.

16 This is the original capture of the article. Should you require

17 it, and I wasn't going to take you to the investigator's notes to

18 demonstrate the provenance, but at presentation queue 3 there is an

19 investigator's notes of Toby Smith at ERN 60318182 reflecting the

20 capture.

21 Now, an English translation of the salient parts of this web site

22 appears at position 2 of the Prosecution's presentation queue. And it

23 essentially says the following. Near the top, you can see the

24 announcement:

25 "Hezbollah announces the martyrdom of the jihadist leader, Hajj

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 15/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 15

1 Mustafa Badreddine, 'El Sayyed Zou Al-Fiqar'," dated 13 May 2016.

2 And below the web site identification, we can see:

3 "Hezbollah issued the following statement ..."

4 And there is a passage from the Quran and following:

5 "He said a few months ago: I will only return from Syria as a

6 martyr or a holder of the banner of victory. He is the jihadist leader

7 Hajj Mustafa Badreddine 'Al-Sayyed Zou Al-Fiqar,' who has returned today

8 covered with the banner of victory. He laid the foundation of this

9 victory through his jihad against the 'Takfiri' groups in Syria. After a

10 lifetime full of jihad, prison, wounds and considerable achievements,

11 Sayed Zou Al-Fiqar concluded his life by martyrdom joining other martyr

12 commanders, among them is his partner in jihad, the commander Hajj Imad

13 Mughniyeh."

14 Then further down there is a title:

15 "An update to the previous statement, Hezbollah issued a second

16 statement which is as follows:

17 "The initial investigations show that a large explosion target

18 one of our centres near Damascus International Airport, and led to the

19 Martyrdom of the commander Mustafa Badreddine ..." And the injury of

20 others.

21 "The investigation will determine the nature and cause of this

22 explosion, and if it is the result of an air strike, a rocket or

23 artillery attack. We will announce more results in the investigation

24 soon.

25 "The party also issued a statement outlining the dates to receive

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 16/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 16

1 blessings of the martyr commander.

2 "The statement says:

3 "Hezbollah shall accept blessings on commander jihadist Hajj

4 Mustafa Badreddine ... starting today, Friday, from nine o'clock in the

5 morning until noon, and from four o'clock in the afternoon until seven

6 o'clock in the evening, in Al-Mujtaba compound in the district of

7 El-Amrican."

8 That's the first --

9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, can you just pause for one

10 moment.

11 [Trial Chamber and Registrar confer]

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: We'll mark the exhibits for today's hearing

13 with the initials MB to follow any exhibit number so that they are

14 clearly delineated from those in the main proceeding. Can I just ask if

15 there is any objection to any of the documents the Prosecution intends to

16 tender today? It would appear not.

17 So each of those will have a number with MB. So the first one

18 will be P834MB, and that was an article in Al-Manar of the 13th of May,

19 2016 with ERN D0498819 through to 825.

20 MR. CAMERON: There is the English translation of that document,

21 which has the same ERN beginning and ends in 820.

22 Did you want to make the associated investigator's notes exhibits

23 as well? In this case, they go to provenance.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, the heading is "Lebanese Media

25 Group Almanar TV." It's a statement. It's a statement. Is it a

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 17/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 17

1 televised broadcast or is it a web site?

2 MR. CAMERON: Like many television stations now, Al-Manar has

3 both a television broadcast and they have a web site where they provide

4 updates, news in written form. This is from their web site.

5 The next thing that I'm going to take you to is actually from

6 their television broadcast.

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you. And the investigator's note for

8 the issue of provenance.

9 MR. CAMERON: It's the investigator's note of Toby Smith, and it

10 has an ERN of 60318182, and that's where it stops.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. That will be Exhibit P835MB.

12 MR. CAMERON: The next item that I would take you to is a video

13 extract from the Al-Manar television broadcast of the 13th of May.

14 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Just two questions, one of which may appear to

15 be overly simplistic in the circumstances, but martyrdom always imports

16 the death of the person to whom martyrdom relates; is that correct?

17 MR. CAMERON: Yes, I think that's correct.

18 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: And also in relation -- I'm so sorry. Also in

19 relation to Hezbollah's reference to the explosion at the airport or near

20 the airport, is it your contention that from that we could infer or

21 expressly take as established the cause of death?

22 MR. CAMERON: One of the events that I will take you to is a

23 further statement on the 14th of May from Hezbollah as to the result of

24 their investigation and the cause of death. It's not my contention that

25 the cause of death is of much relevance to you. It may become relevant

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 18/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 18

1 if other issues are raised. But for the narrow issue before you, it is

2 one piece of many pieces that does not necessarily require that

3 particular inference.

4 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Fully understood. Thank you, learned

5 prosecuting counsel. Thank you.

6 [Trial Chamber confers]

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, thank you, Mr. Cameron.

8 MR. CAMERON: The next piece of evidence has five different

9 component parts. The first, which I'd ask to be brought up when

10 convenient, is found at position 4 and is a video extract from the

11 Al-Manar television broadcast with an ERN of D0499983, which was captured

12 at 11.37 a.m. Beirut time by members of the OTP staff in Beirut.

13 The next relevant exhibit relates to provenance, and it is an

14 investigator's note from Timothy Holford and Jo Van Lierde, both

15 investigators with the Beirut field office, regarding the capture of that

16 video. And that joint ERN is at position 29.

17 There is the statement -- another investigator's note of

18 John Elford, with an ERN D0499937 to 939, which is found at position 8,

19 and which generally explains the nature of Al-Manar television. I won't

20 take you to that, but the sum total is that it's a media outlet which in

21 the past has been associated with Hezbollah.

22 And there are two types of translation because of the nature of

23 the screen, which you'll see in a moment. The first type of translation

24 is found at position 7, and it's ERN D0499893, which is a translation of

25 a newscaster's voice over the video-clip. And then at position 6, there

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 19/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 19

1 is another form of translation with screenshots from the video reflecting

2 the change of text on the screen and a scrolling text that appears at the

3 bottom. That's at ERN D0499893.

4 So the simplest way to go about this, if you'll permit me, is

5 simply to play the video. It's not very long. It's one minute and 52

6 seconds. I don't need to take you to the investigator's notes. And then

7 after the video is played, I would take you to the translations so you

8 can see in brief what the video was about.

9 So if the video that appears at position 4, which is D0499983,

10 can be played, please.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And we'll give that exhibit number P836MB.

12 [Video-clip played]

13 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "This is the Resistance. It grows

14 up through its leaders when they are still alive and be proud of them

15 when they become martyrs. The great jihadist leader, Mustafa Badreddine

16 Sayyed Zou Al-Fiqar is a martyr. Hezbollah in a statement it issued

17 declared the death of Sayyed Zou Al-Fiqar who ended his life as martyr

18 after a life full of jihad, captivity, wounds, and great qualitative

19 achievements. He joined the martyrs convoy of the leaders. May Allah

20 bless them, among whom his colleague, friend Imad Mughniyeh. May Allah

21 have mercy on him.

22 "According to Hezbollah statement, the great jihadist Mustafa

23 Badreddine said a few months ago: I will come back from Syria either a

24 martyr or raising the banner of victory. Here he came as martyr covered

25 with the banner of victory which he founded through his bitter jihad

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 20/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 20

1 confronting the Takfiri groups in Syria which formed a spearhead in the

2 US-Israeli plan in the region. The first statement issued by Hezbollah

3 in which he declared the death of martyr leader Mustafa Badreddine was

4 followed by another statement stating that from the information of the

5 initial investigation, it appears that a big explosion targeted one of

6 our stations situated near Damascus International Airport and killed

7 leader Badreddine, Sayyed Zou Al-Fiqar and wounded others. The statement

8 indicated that the investigation would clarify the nature and reasons of

9 the explosion and whether it was due to an aerial rocket or artillery

10 bombardment. More investigation findings will follow."

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: The ERN, I need to correct it, is D0499893.

12 MR. CAMERON: Now, because of the assistance of the translation

13 staff, it's not necessary for me to take you now to the voice-over

14 translation, which appears at the same ERN number.

15 But instead, having seen the way the screen works, if I could

16 take you now to the document that appears at position 6 of the

17 presentation queue, which is eight slides. Essentially, they say that

18 the text in the midst of the screen changes. It corresponds roughly to

19 what was said in the announce-over, but there is some scrolling text in

20 the bottom that changes from screen to screen. And if I could ask you to

21 go to the final page, the eighth page of that translation, you'll find a

22 table which sets out the text that scrolls along the bottom of the

23 screen. And I draw your attention to three things which were not

24 mentioned during the course of the announcer's video. All three are the

25 final three in this table.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 21/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 21

1 First, underlying the heading "Hezbollah," "will hold the funeral

2 of martyr leader Mustafa Badreddine at 5.30 in Rawdat-El-Shahidayn in

3 El-Ghobeiri."

4 The second entry from the bottom is:

5 "Hezbollah resumes accepting condolences and blessings for martyr

6 leader Mustafa Badreddine from 2.00 to 4.00 p.m. at El-Mujtaba compound

7 (Mosque)(Ayin) al-Hadath."

8 And the final one is:

9 "Speaker of the parliament Nabih Berri calls secretary-general of

10 Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah offering his deep condolences for the

11 loss of martyr leader Mustafa Badreddine."

12 And this will be one of the themes that is open to you to

13 consider as we go through the evidence. The type of people and their

14 stature within their religious community, the political community, and

15 whether or not they are relatives of the deceased as to who understands

16 that Mr. Badreddine is, in fact, dead, by their conduct and by their

17 words.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, this -- eight slides and the

19 English translation of the video stamp 41.00 to 42.52, they are part of

20 the same exhibit, I take it, which is P836MB?

21 MR. CAMERON: Well, 836MB is the video itself, and there are two

22 similarly numbered translation documents. So they could be A and B or 1

23 and 2. They should be associated with the video somehow.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. We'll make it P836.1MB for the

25 slides. And P836.2MB for the translation.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 22/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 22

1 MR. CAMERON: And if you wish, there are two investigator's

2 notes, as I mentioned. One of John Elford explaining the nature of

3 Al-Manar and one from Timothy Holford as to the provenance.

4 The provenance -- since provenance isn't an issue in these

5 proceedings, or it doesn't appear to, it may be unnecessary but it's

6 entirely up to you.

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Which --

8 MR. CAMERON: So --

9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Is this the investigator's note of

10 Mr. Elford of the 27th of May, 2016 of, I think, three pages? D0 --

11 MR. CAMERON: Yes.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: -- 0499937 through to 939?

13 MR. CAMERON: Yes, that's correct.

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: We'll make that P837MB.

15 And there is another one from Mr. Holford, I think you said?

16 MR. CAMERON: No -- yes, I'm sorry, quite right. An

17 investigator's note from Mr. Holford and Mr. Jo Van Lierde. And this

18 will become a frequently-referred to exhibit because they were

19 responsible for capturing the Al-Manar television programme, so I'll

20 refer to it a number of times as we go through. But essentially, that's

21 all that it contains. The method by which this video and others were

22 captured.

23 So on our numbering system that would be P838MB.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, Mr. Holford's -- Mr. Timothy Holford's

25 investigator's note will be P838MB. If you could just give us a date and

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 23/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 23

1 an ERN, please.

2 MR. CAMERON: Yes, the ERN is D0499948 to 949. And the date is

3 the 27th of May, 2016. And it documents how the recordings of the

4 Al-Manar TV broadcast following the announced death of Mustafa Badreddine

5 were captured.

6 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: The ERN should be D0499948 through to 49.

7 MR. CAMERON: The second event is the condolence ceremony, which

8 we've just seen, was scheduled to take place between 2.00 and 4.00 in the

9 afternoon on May the 13th in the video that we just looked at, in the

10 El-Mujtaba compound. And for this, in order to produce relatively short

11 extracts, we have six extracts from the broadcast, all of which were

12 captured through the same process identified in the investigator's note

13 which is now P838MB.

14 There are -- overall, there is an investigator's note of

15 Mr. Elford describing the nature of the Mujtaba complex. That's at

16 position 30 at ERN D0499940. And essentially, in summary of his

17 investigator's note, it says that the Mujtaba complex is one associated

18 with Hezbollah and has been used by that organization for other

19 condolence ceremonies in the past as illustrated by the complex's web

20 site.

21 And at paragraph 7 of the investigator's note, he identifies the

22 location in one form of Google Map, and at page 5 he includes a satellite

23 image upon which he's placed the blue number 1 reflecting his

24 understanding.

25 Now, he has four different locations described in that

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 24/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 24

1 investigator's note and each of the four locations are all essentially in

2 South Beirut in the area of Dahyieh.

3 There is also an investigator's note covering -- spanning all six

4 portions of the videos which is found at position 31 of the Prosecution's

5 queue. It's the investigator's note of Mr. Leroy Stockton, who is an

6 analyst employed by the OTP. The ERN is 60318155 to 163, and

7 Mr. Stockton identifies certain parties attending the ceremony, including

8 family members, Hezbollah officials, and foreign and domestic

9 dignitaries.

10 So the simplest way to do this, I think, is to play each of the

11 video segments and then go to the correct or the corresponding passage in

12 Mr. Stockton's investigator's note.

13 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, I'll give you an exhibit number

14 for Mr. Stockton's investigator's note of the 26th of May, 2016 at ERN

15 60318155 through to 60318163. That will be P839MB.

16 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. Do you wish Mr. Elford's -- this is a

17 different investigator's note than the one I mentioned earlier. It's an

18 investigator's note dated the 26th of May, 2016 with an ERN range of

19 D0499940 to D0499945.

20 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be Exhibit P840MB.

21 MR. CAMERON: What I'll do, if I may, is to play the videos. The

22 first two are only 22 seconds in length. And then having viewed them, go

23 to Mr. Stockton's.

24 So the first one is found at position 9. This is a video-clip

25 from Al-Manar TV with an ERN of D0499890. It's a 26-second clip, and the

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 25/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 25

1 Beirut time is indicated as 13:33.

2 If we could play that, please.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Judge Akoum wishes to point out an error in

4 Exhibit P839MB.

5 Yes, Judge Akoum.

6 JUDGE AKOUM: In Annex A, ERN 60318157, I think it's the photo of

7 MP Hassan Fadlallah and not Mohammed Fadlallah as ascertained.

8 MR. CAMERON: I'm most grateful to you. That name appears twice;

9 once correctly, once incorrectly, as you pointed out. It's referred to

10 in the paragraph 3 correctly as Hassan Fadlallah, but in the photograph

11 that should clearly be changed. So thank you very much.

12 If we could then play the first clip which, as I say, is 26

13 seconds, approximately, in length.

14 [Video-clip played]

15 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "This afternoon at the compound

16 Mujtaba in Hay-El-Amrican was filled with the crowds of well-wishers who

17 have confirmed their support for the Resistance who offers the lives of

18 its leaders and Mujahadeen in the path of achieving victories over both

19 enemies, the Zionist and Takfiri. Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali

20 Abdel-Karim Ali, also gave blessings to the martyr leader on behalf of

21 Syrian president."

22 MR. CAMERON: Now, if we could go then to Mr. Stockton's

23 investigator's note, which has been entered as P839MB, and is found at

24 position 31. Mr. Stockton refers to two annexes in his investigator's

25 note. The first one appears at page 3 at ERN 60318157, if we could go to

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 26/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 26

1 that. It's the one we just looked at with Judge Akoum, which now should

2 read "Hassan Fadlallah." And in the body of his text, Mr. Stockton says:

3 "Annex A is a still frame of video footage," with a time stamp of

4 11 seconds into that clip, "that depicts former Hezbollah MP

5 Amine Sherri, Hezbollah official Wafiq Safa," about whom we've heard

6 evidence, "and Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah."

7 And in the next clip -- the next page, rather, at ERN 60318158,

8 we see an image of a young man whom Mr. Stockton has identified in

9 paragraph 4 of his IN as the son of Mustafa Badreddine, Ali Badreddine.

10 I've included the translation of the voice-over, and it's found

11 at position 11, but it's not really necessary to take you to that.

12 Unless you'd like me to.

13 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: No, but I need an exhibit number for the

14 video.

15 MR. CAMERON: So that would be --

16 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: It would be P841MB, and it's ERN 499890.

17 And you're saying the translation is at your queue number 11?

18 MR. CAMERON: Queue number 11. All of the video clips are going

19 to have the same ERN number, so it may be helpful to identify that in --

20 they come from one large video. This first one is at position 03:49 to

21 04:15 of the overall video. The next --

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron --

23 MR. CAMERON: Of course.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: -- how many extracts of the video are there?

25 I'll give each of them a separate .1, 2, 3, 4 if you can just tell me how

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 27/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 27

1 many there.

2 MR. CAMERON: There are six. The next video-clip is -- actually,

3 I do apologize. In giving these extracts, we have given them different

4 ERN numbers, which will be helpful for you. So the next video-clip has

5 an ERN number of D0499891.

6 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. The next video will be P842MB.

7 Is that sufficiently identified for the record?

8 MR. CAMERON: It's a 26-second video-clip at 14:41 Beirut time,

9 and its position on the overall video is at numbers -- time 39:45 to

10 40:11. That should be sufficient.

11 The third video-clip is ERN D0499892. It's a four minute, 40

12 second clip. Beirut time 14:54, and the position on the overall video

13 from which it was taken is 03:10 to 05:00. Which in the next sequence is

14 P843 MB.

15 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: While you're coming to that, the translation

16 of P841MB, which is at position 11, which has the ERN D049990, will be

17 P841.1MB.

18 MR. CAMERON: So that would mean that in respect of 842 we have

19 an English translation at position 14 of the Prosecution's queue for

20 ERN -- the video ERN D0499891, which is 842. So that would be 842.1.

21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: It would be 842.1MB, correct.

22 MR. CAMERON: And the third then is the one I've just described

23 at position 15, ERN D0499892. It's at Beirut time 14:54, and the

24 position on the overall video from which it was taken is 03:10 to 05:00.

25 I understand it would then be P843MB.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 28/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 28

1 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, it will be P843MB. Were you going to

2 play the earlier one?

3 MR. CAMERON: Yes.

4 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Were you going to play them all at once?

5 MR. CAMERON: No, no, I thought we were going to give them all

6 exhibit numbers and then we'd return. I'll do whatever you like.

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That works well, yes.

8 MR. CAMERON: Okay. And the English translation, which appears

9 at position 17, would then be P843.1MB.

10 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes.

11 MR. CAMERON: We're halfway through. The fourth video-clip is

12 about 40 seconds -- no, sorry, 1 minute, 50 seconds long, or so. It's

13 found at D0499894. It was taken at Beirut time 15:39, and its position

14 on the overall video was at 48:10 to 52:10. And it's found at position

15 20. So that would be P844MB.

16 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, and the English translation will be

17 P845.1MB.

18 MR. CAMERON: And the English translation can be found at

19 position 22.

20 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I just said 845. I meant P844.1MB.

21 MR. CAMERON: The fifth video-clip is very short. It's found at

22 position 23 of the queue. Its ERN is D0499895. It's an 11-second clip,

23 Beirut time 15:43. It's position on the overall video is at number --

24 time 52:32 to 52:43. That would be P845MB.

25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 29/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 29

1 MR. CAMERON: And the English translation is found at position

2 25. And that would be P845.1MB.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And the final one will be P846MB and

4 P846.1MB, if you can just describe the ERN and the timer, please.

5 MR. CAMERON: Yes. The video that you've entered as P846MB is an

6 11-second video with an ERN D0499896. The Beirut time is not shown. It

7 appears to be a summary wrap-up of the newscast with particular images.

8 And its time or position in the overall video is at 1 hour, 30 minutes,

9 9 seconds, to 1 hour, 30 minutes, 54 seconds. And the English

10 translation you've also entered as 846.1MB is found at position 28 of the

11 evidence queue.

12 So returning to the video-clip that we've just saw. It was a

13 short 26-second clip. That's P841MB. And we noted that in

14 Mr. Stockton's investigator's note, which is P839MB, the presence at the

15 condolence ceremony of Amine Sherri, Wafiq Safa, and Hassan Fadlallah.

16 Moving to the next video, which is found at position 12 of the

17 presentation queue and is also 26 seconds in length and has been entered

18 as P842MB. If we could perhaps play that, please.

19 [Video-clip played]

20 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "Badreddine has had an impact with

21 the death of the martyr, the great leader Mustafa Badreddine, in your

22 opinion, is the Zionist enemy already aware of the fact that Badreddine

23 has left his marks on all the sufferings of Israel from painful strikes

24 with some people, and I do not say in Lebanon or outside Lebanon had

25 rejoicing for such news. The speaker, first of all, the enemy did not

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 30/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 30

1 realize ..." And it stops.

2 MR. CAMERON: And if we were to go to P839MB, which is

3 Mr. Stockton's investigator note, we would see at paragraph 5 he

4 describes the inclusion of Annex 5 -- sorry, Annex C. And Mr. Stockton

5 says at paragraph 5:

6 "Annex C is a still frame of video footage," with a video stamp

7 time of 00:24, Beirut stamp 14:41, depicting "Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar."

8 The third video-clip is P843MB and it's found at position 15 of

9 the Prosecution's queue. Now, this is a little bit longer. It's 4

10 minutes, 40 seconds. It's not necessary to play the entirety of the

11 video, but its point is to illustrate the presence of notable people, and

12 in this case it's Sheikh Amad Kabalan, who is a Mufti of the Jaafarite

13 jurisprudence in Islam which is associated with Shia Islam. And perhaps

14 if we could play the video that appears at position 15 and is P843.

15 [Video-clip played]

16 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "We are talking about the

17 delegations who are still coming to the complex to pay their condolences

18 but let me move quickly to his eminence, Sheikh Amad Kabalan, the first

19 Jaafarite Mufti to talk about this event. Your Eminence, first of all,

20 may Allah make your rewards great. Sheikh Amad Kabalan: May Allah make

21 your reward great, God willing, we congratulate the whole Islamic nation

22 and Resistance leader and men, particularly the secretary-general of

23 Hezbollah. His eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and wish our brethren

24 of the Mujahedin all the best. Congratulations to Sayyed Zou Al-Fiqar on

25 this purple victory. This end is the goal of all of us. The battle of

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 31/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 31

1 the victory ..."

2 MR. CAMERON: And I'd refer you to, without taking you to it,

3 paragraph 6 of Mr. Stockton's IN, P839MB, and Annex D.

4 The next video is shorter. It's found at position 20 of the

5 presentation queue. It's been entered as 844MB, with the translation at

6 position 22. If we could play that, please.

7 [Video-clip played]

8 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "Speaker 1: The blood of the martyr

9 that is announcing the great victory. This blood is agitating the whole

10 Resistance axis, the whole Syrian population, and all who consider the

11 axis of Takfiri terrorism and Israel as a challenge. This challenge must

12 be defeated. This blood is promising a great victory from Allah. It is

13 a symbol of victory and a beginning of new future holding sovereignty and

14 dignity. I congratulated the leadership of Hezbollah and the wife of the

15 greater martyr in the name of President Bashar Assad. This great

16 martyrdom is an announcement of victory, God willing, a coming victory.

17 "Newscaster: The secretary-general of the Lebanese Communist

18 party ..."

19 MR. CAMERON: And in Mr. Stockton's investigator's note, P839, at

20 paragraph 7, he describes the speaker as Syrian ambassador to Lebanon,

21 Ali Abdel Karim Ali, and encloses a still shot at Appendix E of his

22 statement.

23 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Is that a good place to pause for a break?

24 MR. CAMERON: Yes, thank you.

25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: We're adjourned.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 32/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 32

1 --- Recess taken at 11.31 a.m.

2 --- On resuming at 12.04 p.m.

3 MR. CAMERON: Before we broke for the morning break, we had just

4 finished looking at P844MB, which was a clip depicting the Syrian

5 ambassador in Lebanon making some remarks at the condolence ceremony of

6 the 13th of May, 2016 about Mustafa Badreddine.

7 The next video-clip is very short and appears at position 23 of

8 the Prosecution's queue. It's not necessary to go to the translation and

9 it's not necessary for the words to be translated by the interpreters.

10 It's been entered now as P845MB. And it's addressed in Mr. Stockton's

11 IN, investigator note, which has been entered as P839MB, and appears at

12 position 31 of the presentation queue.

13 And just before we play the video, I can advise that Mr. Stockton

14 indicates that the person speaking very briefly is General Ali El-Hajj

15 who you may recall during the material time was the director-general of

16 the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, the ISF. If we can play the video

17 at position 23, please, this is P845MB.

18 [Video-clip played]

19 MR. CAMERON: All right. That's enough. So that is identified

20 by Mr. Stockton at paragraph 8 of his investigator's note, and the still

21 from that clip appears as Annex F.

22 The next video-clip has been entered as P846MB and is a short

23 clip that is sort of a wrap-up, and that's why we don't have a Beirut

24 time. It's found at position 26 of the queue. And I'd like to begin the

25 clip at the .39 seconds into it, please.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 33/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 33

1 [Video-clip played]

2 MR. CAMERON: Carry on, please.

3 That's the portion of the video that I wanted to ...

4 [Video-clip played]

5 MR. CAMERON: That's fine. And a clip or an excerpt from that

6 video can be seen in paragraph -- or addressed in paragraph 9 of

7 Mr. Stockton's IN, which is P839MB, found at position 31. And

8 paragraph 9 refers to Annex G.

9 And if we could go to Annex G now. It's ERN 60318163, it's the

10 ninth page of Mr. Stockton's statement. You can see that he identifies a

11 number of people at this particular condolence ceremony on 13th of May.

12 We have Hussein Hajj Hassan, who is a minister of industry. He's a

13 Hezbollah MP and has been since 1996. We have Naim Qassem, who is the

14 deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah. We have Hashem Safieddine who is

15 a prominent member of Hezbollah, a member of The Executive Council.

16 Adnan Badreddine, Mr. Mustafa Badreddine's brother, as is Hassan

17 Badreddine, Mr. Badreddine's brother. We also have Amine Sherri, who was

18 a former Hezbollah MP elected in 2005 after the attack for the Beirut 2

19 District, and he served as an MP between 2005 and 2009 when he was a

20 member of the national economy commerce industry and planning committee.

21 We have Wafiq Safa, about whom you've heard evidence from more than one

22 witness, as a senior Hezbollah security official. And then Hassan

23 Fadlallah, who is correctly identified in this photograph, as a Hezbollah

24 MP who was elected for the Bint Jbeil district in southern Lebanon in

25 2005.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 34/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 34

1 So those were the sorts of attendees who were present during the

2 initial condolences ceremony in the afternoon of the 13th of May, 2016.

3 Now, there are also two photographs.

4 JUDGE AKOUM: Just a small correction with respect to Fadlallah,

5 who was elected for the Bint Jbeil district, which is a district

6 completely different from the Jbeil district which is about Lebanon.

7 MR. CAMERON: I had intended to say the following, Bint Jbeil,

8 B-i-n-t J-e-b-e-i-l, district. Is that what you're referring to?

9 JUDGE AKOUM: Yes.

10 MR. CAMERON: That's my pathetic pronunciation, I do apologize.

11 Now, there are two further photographs with an investigator's

12 note. The investigator's note is that of Toby Smith. It appears at

13 position 33 of the Prosecution's queue. It has an ERN of 60318154, and

14 it describes two photographs.

15 The two photographs -- the first of these appears at position 32,

16 and perhaps we can bring it up now. It has an ERN of D0498856. And it

17 shows Adnan Badreddine, the brother of Mustafa Badreddine. And its

18 evidentiary significance for you is is that it clearly reflects the

19 significant grief suffered by a close relative of Mr. Badreddine at the

20 condolence ceremony.

21 I wonder if we could -- as we go, there is two photographs and

22 the investigator's note of Mr. Smith. The last exhibit number was 846.

23 So if the investigator's note could be P847MB.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: This is the investigator's note of the 27th

25 of May --

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 35/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 35

1 MR. CAMERON: 27th of May of Toby Smith with an ERN range of

2 60318154. It's a single page.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That will be P847MB. And the photograph,

4 you want a separate exhibit number?

5 MR. CAMERON: Yes, there are two photographs. They are

6 different -- they have different scenes, so it might be appropriate to

7 make the next one P848MB, and it's a photograph with an ERN of D04898856.

8 It was captured at 16:48 on the 13th of May, and it depicts Adnan

9 Badreddine, the brother of Mustafa Badreddine, and reflects his demeanour

10 during the condolence ceremony.

11 The second photograph was captured at 16:54 on the same day, the

12 13th of May. It's at position 34 of the presentation queue. And it

13 depicts Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, who was identified by Mr. Stockton in

14 his investigator's note. Mr. Safieddine is the head of Hezbollah's

15 Executive Council, and he's extending his condolences to Ali Badreddine

16 upon whom he rests his hand who is the son of Mustafa Badreddine, and we

17 can see also Adnan and Hassan Badreddine, both brothers of Mustafa

18 Badreddine. And if that could be Exhibit 849MB, please.

19 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, the second photo appears to have the

20 ERN D0498862. The two exhibits will be P848MB and P849MB, respectively.

21 MR. CAMERON: Now, the next thing in the general narrative is a

22 funeral ceremony that's held at the Sayyidah Zaynab complex prior to a

23 procession later to Martyr's Shrine. And the nature of Sayyidah Zaynab

24 complex is dealt with Mr. Elford's investigator's note relating to

25 certain locations which is P840MB and it's found at position 30. And I

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 36/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 36

1 needn't take you to it. But like the other locations, Mr. Elford has

2 positioned or located the site of the complex on a map and a satellite

3 map.

4 And, in summary, the complex was inaugurated on the 30th of

5 March, 2012 by secretary-general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a

6 televised speech.

7 And the first video that I would like to play in respect of the

8 funeral and the speeches is contained at position 41 of the presentation

9 queue with an ERN D0499897. It's 14 minutes, 34 seconds in length. I

10 only intended to play a very small portion to give you an idea of the

11 nature of the hall and the number of attendees. Basically, it reflects a

12 speech delivered by Sheikh Naim Qassem, who is the deputy

13 secretary-general of Hezbollah.

14 The other relevant associated documents are the previous

15 investigator's note of Timothy Holford and Jo Van Lierde as to its

16 provenance, which was introduced as P838MB. And I've already referred to

17 the investigator's note of John Elford. In addition, there is an English

18 translation of which is found at position 43. So it's not necessary

19 while the portions of the speech are to be listened to for the

20 interpreters to translate. It's enough to see the nature of the hall,

21 the presence of Mr. Badreddine's -- or what happens to be

22 Mr. Badreddine's coffin, as you can see before you now, the number of

23 people attending, and, of course, the fact that the secretary-general of

24 Hezbollah delivers a speech of some significance.

25 And when I speak about the deputy director-general of Hezbollah

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 37/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 37

1 or the secretary-general of Hezbollah, it's to be remembered that he is

2 also a religious figure in addition to his administrative role, and so

3 the religious component to all of this is something that's open to you to

4 take into account in determining the validity of the ceremonies which are

5 occurring.

6 So if we could play this video, please, and you can see the

7 coffin.

8 [Video-clip played]

9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: We need an exhibit number, Mr. Cameron.

10 That will be 850MB for the video and 850.1 for the English translation.

11 And what was the date of the video, please?

12 MR. CAMERON: The date of the video is the 13th of May. The ERN

13 number is D0498819 -- sorry --

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: D0499897.

15 MR. CAMERON: Sorry, I'd flipped back in my notes to -- yes,

16 that's correct.

17 JUDGE AKOUM: Mr. Cameron, in page 35, line 20, you said:

18 "The fact that the secretary-general of Hezbollah."

19 I think that you meant the deputy secretary-general.

20 MR. CAMERON: Yes, I'm very sorry. It's the deputy

21 secretary-general of Hezbollah, as distinct from Hassan Nasrallah, the

22 secretary-general of Hezbollah.

23 The next video I'd like to show is at position 35 and there is an

24 English translation at position 37. The video is D0499898, and it's not

25 necessary to translate the words of the deputy secretary-general of

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 38/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 38

1 Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, but it amounts to a prayer delivered over

2 the coffin of Mustafa Badreddine. We won't play it all but it will give

3 you an idea of solemnity of the proceedings.

4 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Is this part of the same exhibit or is it a

5 separate video?

6 MR. CAMERON: It's a separate extract from the same overall

7 video, but it's an extract of about 2 minutes, 54 seconds in length, and

8 it relates to the prayer delivered by Deputy Secretary-General Qassem.

9 If we could play that, please.

10 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Just so I don't lose it in the transcript,

11 do you want an separate exhibit number or is it sufficient just --

12 MR. CAMERON: Yes.

13 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. That will be P851MB. And the

14 English --

15 MR. CAMERON: The English translation is at position 37 of the

16 evidence queue, but I was not going to take you to the English

17 translation today, which would be P851.1MB.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that's right.

19 MR. CAMERON: The video is at queue 35.

20 [Video-clip played]

21 MR. CAMERON: That's fine, thank you.

22 So you saw a split screen in that video of the inside of the hall

23 and the crowds outside. And if we were to now take a look at another

24 extract, which is found at position 38 of the presentation queue, and

25 it's ERN D0499899, also from Al-Manar television broadcast. It's a clip

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 39/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 39

1 of 1 minute, 15 seconds in length. If we could play that, please. There

2 is no translation associated with this.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: You --

4 MR. CAMERON: That would be P852MB.

5 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. We'll receive it as P852MB. And

6 is there a -- there is no translation, okay.

7 [Video-clip played]

8 MR. CAMERON: If we could just pause it there, please. I can't

9 see which time we're at. So 27 seconds into the video, there is a number

10 of things that can be seen here. There is a band that's playing, and

11 you'll see that same band when we see the Damascus ceremony in a few

12 days. We can see a military component of people standing around a coffin

13 draped with a flag, a Hezbollah flag. We can see various soldiers lining

14 either side of the coffin, each with military flags. So in addition to

15 the family and religious aspect, there is clearly the organizational

16 military recognition of Mr. Badreddine's death. And you can see the

17 throng of people crowded around as well.

18 So if we could continue on now, please.

19 [Video-clip played]

20 MR. CAMERON: The fifth event that relates to the transportation

21 of the body to be interred at martyr cemetery at Rawdat-El-Shahidayn at

22 Ghobeiri in Dahiyeh. And without taking you to it, there is the

23 investigator's note of Mr. Elford relating to the various locations,

24 which has been entered as P840MB and is found at position 30 of the

25 presentation queue. And at paragraphs 11 to 13, Mr. Elford sets out his

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 40/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 40

1 analysis of the location and nature of the Rawdat-El-Shahidayn cemetery

2 and mausoleum where the body of Mr. Mustafa Badreddine was interred

3 beside that of Imad Mughniyeh. This cemetery is also the resting place

4 of Youssef Habih Merhi, the brother of the accused Hassan Merhi, who was

5 proclaimed as a martyr by Secretary-General Nasrallah in March of 2004.

6 At paragraph 12 of Mr. Elford's statement, he again notes the

7 location and includes it on a Google Map image and a satellite map image.

8 The video is found at position 44 of the evidence queue. Its ERN is

9 D0499900 and that would be, if admitted, P853MB. And there is no words

10 for translation.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That will be P853MB.

12 [Video-clip played]

13 MR. CAMERON: The next event that I have information for you

14 about is on the following day, on the 14th of May. And on that day, it

15 appears that a statement from the Hezbollah media centre web site is

16 issued concerning the results of their investigation into the death of

17 Mustafa Badreddine, and there are three documents that are associated.

18 The first is the screenshot of the statement itself in Arabic,

19 which is at ERN D0499742, which is found at position 49. The second is a

20 translation of that statement, which is found at position 50. And the

21 third is an investigator's note of John Elford dated the 26th of May,

22 2016, ERN D0499946, found at position 51, as to the source of the web

23 site capture.

24 So perhaps the first -- the statement itself can be P854MB.

25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be P854MB, that will be the

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 41/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 41

1 Hezbollah media centre media release.

2 MR. CAMERON: And the translation, which is found at position 50,

3 could then be P854.1MB.

4 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes.

5 MR. CAMERON: And the investigator's note of Mr. Elford, dated

6 the 26th of May, 2016, D049946 to 9947, can be P855MB.

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be received as P855MB.

8 MR. CAMERON: Now, if we could bring up, please, the Arabic at

9 page 49, which is the original screen capture, and then I can take you to

10 the English translation in a moment. So position 49 is the Arabic

11 screenshot, with a photograph.

12 If we could now go to page -- the document appearing at

13 position 50, which is P854.1MB, the document can be translated as

14 follows:

15 "Hezbollah: The martyrdom of Sayed Badreddine is a result of

16 artillery shelling by Takfiris groups," and the date is May 14th, 2016.

17 The statement issued by Hezbollah is the following:

18 "'Investigations have shown that the explosion, which targeted

19 one of our bases near Damascus international airport, and which led to

20 the martyrdom of commander Mustafa Badreddine, was the result of

21 artillery bombardment carried out by Takfiris groups in the area. The

22 result of the investigation will increase our commitment and will in

23 perseverance in continuing to battle these criminal gangs and defeat

24 them, and this was the wish of our dear martyr Sayed Zou Al-Fiqar and his

25 will to his mujahedeen brothers.'"

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 42/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 42

1 So that is the only definitively statement that we have from

2 Hezbollah about the location and cause of Mr. Badreddine.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I've read the statement of the

4 secretary-general. That also goes into it, I believe.

5 MR. CAMERON: Yes, but this is more succinct. But certainly you

6 have the translation of the secretary-general with you.

7 The next event occurs on the same day, the following day of the

8 funeral, the 14th of May, 2016, and is a visitation to the burial site by

9 officials from Iran. And there are four documents initially relevant.

10 The first we've seen before and has been entered as P836MB, and

11 it's the investigator's note from Mr. Holford and Mr. Van Lierde about

12 the origin of the video. The second is a video extract from Al-Manar

13 television which is about a minute and 22 seconds in length, and it shows

14 the visitation of the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon and the Iranian

15 deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs to -- both of whom

16 visited Mr. Badreddine's grave site. That's at position 45. And if we

17 were to give that an exhibit number now, it would be P856MB.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be P856MB, and the English

19 will be P856.1MB.

20 And where can we find the English in your presentation queue?

21 MR. CAMERON: That's at position 47. And there is also an

22 investigator's note of Nicole Blanch containing still photographs of

23 parties who were at the presentation. It's an investigator's note dated

24 May 28th, 28th of May, 2016, which has an ERN number of 60318142 to

25 60318144. And at the last two pages, it shows her identification of

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 43/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 43

1 various figures who attended that day with the Iranian officials. We'll

2 come to that in a moment.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. We'll make Nicole Blanch's

4 investigator's note Exhibit P857MB.

5 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. If I could then play the --

6 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, the date of that is the 28th of

7 May, 2016.

8 [Video-clip played]

9 MR. CAMERON: Let's stop here, please.

10 So you'll see as you watch, and you'll come to it in

11 Ms. Blanch's -- you'll see the white-haired gentlemen is

12 Mohammed FatahAli, and the bearded younger gentleman to his left is

13 Hussein Amir-Abdollahian. The first is the Iranian ambassador to

14 Lebanon; the second is the Iranian deputy foreign minister for Arab and

15 African affairs.

16 Please go ahead.

17 [Video-clip played]

18 MR. CAMERON: Stop here, please.

19 This is indicated as the grave site and grave stone of

20 Mr. Badreddine, before which the two Iranian officials are kneeling.

21 Please go ahead.

22 [Video-clip played]

23 MR. CAMERON: If we were to go to the translation of remarks at

24 position 47, which is now P856.1MB, we'll see that the deputy Iranian

25 foreign minister, Hussein Amir-Abdollahian, is referring to the crime

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 44/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 44

1 that led to the martyrdom of Mustafa Badreddine.

2 If we could now go to what is at position 48, which is P857MB.

3 This is the investigator's note of Ms. Blanch. And if we could go to the

4 second page at paragraph -- the continuation of paragraph 5, we'll see a

5 list of people whom she is able to identify. And if we go to the next

6 page, 60318144, we'll see a list of people as well, including the two

7 Iranian officials but also Adnan Badreddine, Hassan Badreddine, and

8 Mohammed Badreddine, all brothers of the deceased, appearing at a

9 visitation by foreign officials at their brother's grave site.

10 The next and eighth of tenth item occurs on the 18th of May, four

11 days after this visitation, in Damascus. And the following documents are

12 relevant to this. We had the previously admitted investigator's note of

13 John Elford, which is P840MB, and describes the general nature of the

14 particular mosque at which this occurs.

15 The second is a video extract from the Al-Manar television which

16 is about 3 minutes, 30 seconds in length, and found at position 52 of the

17 presentation queue. And if we were to enter that now, that would be

18 P858MB.

19 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. That will be P858MB.

20 MR. CAMERON: There is an English translation at position 54 of

21 some of the speakers at the ceremony, which could be P858.1MB.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, it will be. And can you provide us

23 with an ERN, please.

24 MR. CAMERON: Yes, the ERN of the English translation is

25 D0499783_D_EN.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 45/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 45

1 The two are remaining -- sorry.

2 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Is that the same ERN for the video?

3 MR. CAMERON: Yes, it is. There are two relevant investigator's

4 notes. The first is of -- a very short one of Toby Smith, which is found

5 at position 55 of the evidence queue. The ERN for that is 60318183 and

6 it is dated the 30th of May, 2016. If that could be P859MB.

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be P859MB.

8 MR. CAMERON: And with deference to Mr. Smith, the more important

9 investigator's note is that of Leroy Stockton, which is found at

10 position 56 of the evidence queue. It has an ERN range of 60318164 to

11 168, and it's dated the 27th of May, 2016. And if that could be P860MB.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be P860MB.

13 MR. CAMERON: And while we're at it, there is an investigator's

14 note also of Nicole Blanch containing a single photograph of

15 Ali Badreddine, Mr. Badreddine's son, at that ceremony. That's found at

16 position 57 of the presentation queue. It has an ERN range of D60318146

17 to 147. If that could be P861MB.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes.

19 MR. CAMERON: Then I'd like to play a section of the -- play the

20 video which is, as I say, about three minutes long. It's --

21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Ms. Blanch's, excuse me, is investigator's

22 note of 28th of May, 2016.

23 MR. CAMERON: Thank you.

24 I don't really need to take you to the English translation of the

25 speakers. It's available for you, but it clearly refers to the death of

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 46/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 46

1 Mustafa Badreddine by a number of people and their view of him. I'd like

2 to play the video and then take you to Mr. Stockton's IN, investigator

3 note.

4 So we could play the video, which is at position 52, please.

5 This is in Damascus.

6 [Video-clip played]

7 MR. CAMERON: It's clearly a very well orchestrated, well

8 attended funeral or ceremony in Damascus attended by many, many military

9 figures.

10 And if we go now to Mr. Stockton's investigator note, which is

11 P860MB, at position 56. We can see at paragraph 3, Mr. Stockton said:

12 "Annex A is a still frame of video footage found at ERN

13 D0499783," which is P858MB now.

14 And if we could briefly go to the third page of Mr. Stockton's

15 IN, which is 60318166, we see his identification of the figures appearing

16 in the backdrop behind the ceremony. On the left, there is the Grand

17 Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini who's understood

18 to be a religious leader, a scholar, founder of the Islamic Republic of

19 Iran, and he was the first Supreme Leader of Iran, and upon his death he

20 was succeeded by Ali Khamenei in 1989. And beside him, working from left

21 to right in the photograph, there is Imad Mughniyeh, who others have said

22 was a friend and mentor of Mr. Badreddine. Mr. Mughniyeh was a founding

23 member of Hezbollah and its top-ranking military operative for almost 25

24 years until his death in February 2008, and he was the brother-in-law of

25 Mustafa Badreddine, and Mustafa Badreddine is interred in the grave

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 47/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 47

1 beside that of Mr. Mughniyeh.

2 You see three -- or at least in this photograph two pictures of

3 Mustafa Badreddine as the -- go cross to the right-hand side.

4 And then Mr. Stockton, at the first page of his investigator's

5 note, indicates that Annex B is a still frame from the same footage

6 depicting Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, the deputy president of the Executive

7 Council of Hezbollah.

8 And then in Annex C, Mr. Stockton returns to a larger shot of the

9 same backdrop that we saw a moment ago in Annex A. You can see he's

10 identified the middle three photographs of the group as Mustafa

11 Badreddine. The one sixth from the left he identifies as Hassan

12 Nasrallah, and the last one on the very right-hand side is Ali Khamenei.

13 Khamenei is a religious leader and is presently the Supreme

14 Leader of Iran having succeeded the Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

15 So the fact that Mr. Badreddine's three pictures in the middle

16 appear so prominently with those of Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader

17 of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini, the present leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei,

18 reflects the seriousness and gravity of the ceremony that took place in

19 the honour of Mr. Badreddine and in recognition of his death.

20 If we could now go to P861, which is at position 57 of the

21 evidence queue, we'll see the investigator's note of Ms. Nicole Blanch

22 indicating that she was able to download an image from the Shia news web

23 site of the ceremony of the Damascus, and we can see at the second page

24 of that investigator's note at ERN 60318147 a picture of Ali Badreddine,

25 the son of Mustafa Badreddine, whom we saw earlier in the condolence

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 48/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 48

1 ceremonies on the 13th of May and has travelled to Damascus for this

2 ceremony as well on the 18th of May.

3 The next thing that we come to, in the ninth, tenth is another

4 ceremony held in Beirut on the 20th of May, 2016, where speeches were

5 delivered by Mohammed Badreddine, the brother of Mustafa Badreddine, and

6 significantly by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of

7 Hezbollah.

8 The relevant documents associated with this area are again

9 P836MB, which is the investigator's note of Mr. Holford and van Lierde

10 about the provenance of the video. There is also the investigator's note

11 of Mr. Elford as to location, which is entered as P840MB. There is a

12 video extract from Al-Manar television, which is at position 59. And if

13 entered, would be P862MB.

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That will be P862MB. If you could give us

15 the ERN and the date, please.

16 MR. CAMERON: Yes. The ERN is 60317985 and the date is the 20th

17 of May, 2016.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And the location?

19 MR. CAMERON: I'm aware only that it -- if you give me a moment.

20 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay, a moment ago, Mr. Cameron, you

21 referred to Mr. Holford's investigator's note as P836. I think it should

22 be P838 --

23 MR. CAMERON: Oh, I do apologize.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: -- MB, just a clarification.

25 MR. CAMERON: Thank you very much to the Registrar.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 49/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 49

1 We don't know the location of this ceremony. We understand it to

2 be in Beirut.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: This is the video of Mr. Nasrallah's speech?

4 MR. CAMERON: Yes. There are actually three parts to the video,

5 in essence. There is a beginning part which is a video in and of itself

6 of the life and career of Mustafa Badreddine. The second part of the

7 video is a speech delivered by his brother of some length. And the third

8 part of the video is the speech by video-link of Hassan Nasrallah.

9 And I had intended to take you really only to the third portion,

10 the speech by Hassan Nasrallah. As you'll see in the video, you'll get a

11 sense of the number of people, the types of attendees, and you'll be

12 further assisted in their identification by Mr. Stockton's investigator's

13 note.

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: It may be helpful if you show us just a

15 small portion of the first two parts.

16 MR. CAMERON: Yes, of course.

17 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Please.

18 MR. CAMERON: If you'll give me a moment.

19 Just before this escapes me, the ERN of Mr. Stockton's

20 investigator's note, which is dated the 27th of May, 2016, is 60318184 to

21 196. And that would be P862 -- 863.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, it will be P863MB.

23 MR. CAMERON: And we also have, and I should have brought this to

24 your attention earlier, a transcript of the -- an English translation of

25 the speech delivered by Secretary-General Nasrallah, at least a portion

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 50/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 50

1 of it -- a good portion of it, and that's found at position 60 of the

2 evidence queue. So that would be P862.1MB.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes.

4 MR. CAMERON: So if the Registrar would be good enough to bring

5 up the video and begin playing at the outset. It will give you an idea

6 of the kind of video that was displayed for the assembled guests.

7 [Video-clip played]

8 MR. CAMERON: Mr. Registrar, perhaps you could advance it a

9 little bit and you may get a flavour of the video about Mr. Badreddine

10 specifically. This was a lead up-to that. Maybe another five minutes or

11 so.

12 [Video-clip played]

13 MR. CAMERON: You can see there the size of the assembly and the

14 pictures at the back.

15 Keep going, sir, please. And the nature of the attendees, who

16 are civilians, clerks, and military personnel. If we get to 55 --

17 [Video-clip played]

18 MR. CAMERON: I would like to start with the speech of Hassan

19 Nasrallah, please. It's a little bit before that, please.

20 Now, the text that you have, a translation that appears at

21 position 60, and is 862.1, covers most of the two parts in the speech.

22 The secretary-general has divided his speech into three parts. The

23 first, as you'll see, says he'll make an outline and will tackle the

24 person of the Sayyed. The second will deal with events of his martyrdom

25 and related issues. And the third is the post-martyrdom era, and I've

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 51/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 51

1 not included a translation of that portion of it.

2 So if we could find roughly 55:45. I had intended to play from

3 55:45 through to 1:04:43, which is about nine minutes or so. And it

4 might be helpful to have the translation appear as well. The second page

5 of the translation begins at the point where I would like the video to

6 begin. At 55:45.

7 [Video-clip played]

8 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "I would like to divide my speech

9 into three sections, and as usual, I will make an outline. The first

10 section will tackle the person of the Sayyed. The second section will

11 highlight the event of his martyrdom and related issues. The third point

12 addresses the post-martyrdom era. Where are we going? What is our

13 stance? As usual, when we talk about martyrs during their lives, we

14 almost always use their jihadi code-names. For example, we say 'Sayyed

15 Zuylfiqar,' 'El-Hajj Radwan,' 'El-Hajj Alaa,' et cetera. But after their

16 martyrdom, we almost always go back to using their real names. Thus we

17 say: Sayyed Mustafa, El-Hajj Imad. For this reason, I will now use this

18 name: Sayyed Mustafa. Sayyed Mustafa was one of the first men of this

19 Resistance who worked in this Resistance from its very first moments and

20 hours. So the first section is an introduction to this great jihadi

21 leader. He was at the forefront of confronting the 'Israeli' enemy in

22 Khaldeh along with a group of Mujahedin who formed the essential core and

23 the first components of the Islamic Resistance.

24 "Later, some of these fighters, including Sayyed Mustafa, became

25 some of its best leaders. Sayyed Mustafa and these brothers fought side

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 52/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 52

1 by side with their brothers in the Amal Movement during the battle of

2 Khaldeh. He further fought with the Palestinian brothers and was

3 severely wounded. His injury left scars on his body and leg, which

4 influenced the way he moved and walked. The effect of this injury lasted

5 until his martyrdom. In fact, he was one of the first fighters to be

6 wounded in the Islamic Resistance.

7 "During the first years and months, he partook with his brethren

8 leaders in forming jihadi groups and training them and transferring

9 expertise to them besides equipping them and directing them. As a result

10 of this incessant jihad and work, and along with what the other

11 resistance factions and movements in Lebanon did, the Israeli occupation

12 was expelled from the Dahyieh, Beirut, and El-Jabal, and from along the

13 coastal line Sidon, Tyre, and Nabatiyeh, all the way to the security

14 belt.

15 "In the 1990s, in 1995, Sayyed Mustafa assumed the leadership of

16 the military central command in Hezbollah until mid-1999. Through the

17 central and leadership post, he worked at developing the structure and

18 actions of the Resistance. Everyone knows that with the beginning of

19 1990s until the year 2000, the action of the Resistance witnessed an

20 enormous escalatory development on the qualitative and quantitative

21 levels, which led to the great victory in 2000.

22 "One of the major challenges that took place during his (time

23 leading) central military command was the great confrontation of the

24 Israeli aggression in the April war in 1996 which the Israelis dubbed as

25 'the grapes of wrath.' During this war, the Qana massacre was

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 53/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 53

1 perpetrated, but the Resistance remained firm and steadfast, thanks to

2 the steadfastness, firmness, determination, and will of the Resistance,

3 'Israeli' goals were frustrated - especially the goals of Shimon Peres -

4 from that war, which ended with the so-called April Understanding that

5 laid the foundation for a new stage in the work of the Resistance, which

6 led to the final victory in 2000.

7 "One of the major achievements of Sayyed Badreddine during his

8 military post was the famous Ansaria ambush, about which much was said.

9 All the Lebanese followed this operation, which was since the very first

10 moments of its discovery of the target on the technical level, up until

11 the end, under the co-direction and control of both leader martyrs

12 Sayyed Mustafa and Hajj Imad. Furthermore, one of the important

13 achievements that occurred during his leadership is the development of

14 the media and psychological war. In fact, he had a very advanced look,

15 special disposition, and great interest in this perspective.

16 "Afterwards, he continued his work in leading jihadi activity in

17 Hezbollah. He was one of the military leaders in confronting the

18 aggression of the July war in 2006 which the 'Israeli' enemy dubbed as

19 the second Lebanon war. After the martyrdom of brother and leader Hajj

20 Imad, he assumed several responsibilities. Among his achievements was

21 dismantling the networks of collaborators with the 'Israeli' enemy in

22 2008 and the years that followed.

23 "In fact, the security apparatuses and units in Hezbollah and the

24 Resistance played a central and essential role within this perspective.

25 There were close ties between the Resistance and the official security

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 54/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 54

1 apparatuses which had a great role in disclosing these networks.

2 "When Hezbollah decided to partake in the war in Syria that took

3 place in a gradual, escalatory manner, martyr leader Sayyed Mustafa was

4 in charge of leading and commanding the Hezbollah military and security

5 units inside Syrian territories. During this stage, he was operating

6 from Lebanon. I used to prevent him from going to Syria from one

7 position as his direct commander so as to guard and protect him.

8 However, later he insisted saying: 'I can't run a field with such

9 importance and (that can have) such a critical impact and challenge to

10 Lebanon from here.'"

11 MR. CAMERON: The second portion that I would like to take the

12 Court to is at -- in the translation at page 10 and in the video at the

13 timestamp 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 25 seconds. It's a short paragraph

14 from 1:30:25 to 1:31:34 in which the secretary-general discuss his view

15 of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

16 [Video-clip played]

17 THE INTERPRETER: [Voiceover] "Next point (fourth point) in the

18 second section has to do with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Indeed,

19 we also heard many words and demands from the STL during these days.

20 Here I also agreed with my brothers not to comment on this issue or get

21 engaged in contests with others for a very simple reason: Our people and

22 dear ones! We had said everything we had on the STL years ago. In fact,

23 the STL does not exist as far as we are concerned. It is forgotten. If

24 you scan our minds, you do not find a place for the STL. We spoke enough

25 about its invalidity, its falsification, its being influenced by

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 55/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 55

1 politics, and its being exploited as a weapon to target this Resistance

2 and the leaders of this Resistance and their moral and bodily

3 assassination. That's why everything that is said in this perspective,

4 all what is demanded from it or by it from this perspective, does not

5 concern us at all and does not deserve any comment from us at all. As

6 such, we come to an end with regards to the issue of the STL."

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: How much more evidence do you have,

8 Mr. Cameron? Not submissions, just evidence.

9 MR. CAMERON: I have to go through the investigator's note of

10 Mr. Stockton, which will take about 10 to 15 minutes, and then,

11 mercifully, I have the two investigator's notes of Nicole Blanch

12 regarding the ceremony in Tehran on the 24th of May. In total, that

13 should take about 25 minutes.

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. If you could just present the

15 documents, I'll give you exhibit numbers before the lunch break.

16 MR. CAMERON: Okay. The only remaining documents are two,

17 investigator's notes Nicole Blanch. The first is ERN 60318148 to 1850.

18 It's an investigator's note dated the 28th of May, 2016. It's found at

19 position 62 of the evidence queue.

20 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That will be P864MB.

21 MR. CAMERON: And the second investigator's note is ERN 60318151

22 to 153. It's dated the 28th of May, 2016, and it's found at position 63

23 of the presentation queue.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That will be P865MB. And to just

25 distinguish the two, P864MB is headed "Tasnim news articles containing

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 56/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 56

1 text and photos relating to the ceremonies for the martyr Mustafa

2 Badreddine dated 18 May 2016," and the subject of P865MB is by "Turkish

3 news article containing photos of a ceremony commemorating martyr Mustafa

4 Badreddine held in Tehran attended by political and military authorities

5 dated 25th of May 2016."

6 Is that the entirety of the documents that you intend to submit

7 into evidence, Mr. Cameron?

8 MR. CAMERON: Yes, that's correct.

9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you. Can I just -- Mr. Haynes, do you

10 have any evidence that you'll be presenting?

11 MR. HAYNES: Your Honour, no.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Korkmaz, do you have any -- I just want

13 to know whether you have any evidence that you intend to present as

14 opposed to submissions?

15 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour. Obviously, we'll

16 have one or two items of evidence to provide in addition.

17 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: We'll take a break and then we'll conclude

18 the Prosecution's presentation of evidence.

19 Then, Mr. Korkmaz, if you could just present your evidence, and

20 we'll turn to submissions from the parties and participants.

21 We're adjourned.

22 --- Luncheon recess taken at 1.24 p.m.

23 --- On resuming at 2.48 p.m.

24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I note Mr. Courcelle-Labrousse has replaced

25 Ms. von Wistinghausen.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 57/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 57

1 Yes, Mr. Cameron.

2 MR. CAMERON: Short of the submissions, I have four things to do.

3 One is to correct an ERN reference. It was omitted on the record, I

4 understand, and I am informed by the Registrar that at page 41, line 10

5 and 11, in introducing P856MB I neglected to read the ERN number of

6 D0499901, with translation. So I hope that's adequate.

7 The second is I wish to go to the investigator's note of

8 Mr. Stockton.

9 Third, on to the two investigator's notes, quite briefly, of

10 Ms. Nicole Blanch.

11 And fourth, I have a better understanding in writing, which has

12 received the benediction of the Ministry of Interior, as to the

13 procedures to be engaged in this order to seek a death certificate, which

14 I can come to at the end, if you wish.

15 The first thing to do then is to return to the investigator's

16 note of Mr. Stockton, which appears at position 61 and is P863MB.

17 Now, Mr. Stockton sets out 13 paragraphs in the text of his IN

18 but it might be more useful to go immediately to the annexes, beginning

19 with Annex A. Annex A through to Annex K are all screenshots taken from

20 the video that you had seen portions of shortly before, which was

21 Exhibit P862MB. The first is at Annex A, ERN 60318171, and all of this

22 is to illustrate the nature of the attendees at this particular ceremony.

23 The first is Ali Hassan Khalil, who is the minister of finance

24 and an MP for the Amal movement representing the Marjayoun Hasbaya

25 district in south Lebanon.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 58/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 58

1 The second we've spoken about earlier, Naim Qassem, who is the

2 deputy secretary-general of Hezbollah. And the third, on the right-hand

3 side of that photograph, Ali Badreddine, as you know now, is the son of

4 Mustafa Badreddine.

5 Over the page at 60318172, Annex B, we have identified Hussein

6 Khalil about whom you've heard evidence in the past as being a principal

7 advisor to Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. And we have also Ali

8 Abdel-Karim Ali, whom you saw earlier as the Syrian ambassador to

9 Lebanon.

10 In Annex C, which is at ERN 60318173, we have Hashem Safieddine

11 who we again saw earlier as the head of Hezbollah's executive council and

12 religious cleric, and beside him Emile Rahme who is an MP representing

13 the Baalbeck Hermel district since 2009 and the leader of the Solidarity

14 Party.

15 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Cameron, for the transcript, which

16 ceremony are you referring to?

17 MR. CAMERON: This is the ceremony that we just discussed before

18 the break which was held in Beirut on the 20th of May, 2016. We saw

19 portions of the video relating to a presentation as to the life of

20 Mustafa Badreddine, with preamble. I omitted showing you the speech

21 delivered by Mohammed Badreddine, and concluded with the speech by Sayyed

22 Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah. So that's on the 20th

23 of May.

24 At ERN 60318174, Mr. Stockton identifies Hikmat Dib, who is an MP

25 representing the Baabda strict since 2009. That's Mohammed Badreddine,

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 59/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 59

1 to his left, the brother of Mustafa Badreddine. And the cleric is

2 Hussein Sobhani, who is an Iran parliamentarian.

3 Over the page at 60318175, we have identified Faisal Daoud, who

4 is a former MP and currently secretary-general of Lebanese Arab Struggle

5 Movement. We have in the middle Ali Al-Hajj whom you saw briefly in the

6 video earlier, and we have beside him Mustafa Hamdan. General Mustafa

7 Hamdan was formerly the head of the Presidential Guards.

8 Over the page at ERN 60318176, we have Hussein Hajj Hassan, who

9 is the minister of industry and a Hezbollah MP representing Baalbeck and

10 Hermel since 1996. Beside him we have Mohammed Fneish, minister of state

11 for parliamentary affairs, a Hezbollah MP who was elected first in 1992

12 representing Bint Jbeil. He now represents Tyre in south Lebanon.

13 At ERN 60318177, we have two figures who we have seen before,

14 Hussein Khalil, and the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel-Karim

15 Ali.

16 The following page 60131878 we have Mohammed Raad, who is a

17 Hezbollah MP representing Nabatiyeh since 1992.

18 And at ERN 60318179, we have the backdrop, you can see the size

19 of the assembly, of the people assembled to hear not only the celebration

20 of Mr. Badreddine's life and the speech by his brother, Mohammed

21 Badreddine, and the secretary-general's speech. You can see the size of

22 the assemblage. And against that, we have five large photographs or

23 images at the back, Ruhollah Khomeini, whom I described earlier,

24 similarly Imad Mughniyeh, Ragheb Harb in the middle was a religious

25 leader who was assassinated in February of 1984. We have Abbass

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 60/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 60

1 Moussawi, also a religious leader and formerly secretary-general of

2 Hezbollah from 1991 to 1992, who was also assassinated in February 1992.

3 And on the end right of the photograph, Ali Khamenei, the current

4 religious leader in Iran.

5 At ERN 60318180, we have Nasser Kandil, about whom you've heard

6 evidence as one of the Syrian deposits who were required by the

7 prime minister up until his decision not to accept them in January of

8 2005 to be a member of his group of candidates.

9 At ERN 60318181, we have Ali Fayyad who was a Hezbollah MP

10 elected in 1989. Hassan Badreddine you know, Adnan Badreddine you know,

11 and Amine Sherri you have seen before. Mr. Sherri was formerly a

12 Hezbollah MP who was elected as deputy MP in 2005 and served as an MP

13 from 2005 to 2009.

14 The next thing I would like to do is go to the two exhibits that

15 you have already entered. They are the two investigator notes of

16 Nicole Blanch. In short, they can be summarized as follows.

17 On the 24th of May of this year, it appears as if there was

18 either a visitation or some sort of ceremony in respect of Mr. Badreddine

19 held in Tehran, and it was attended by a number of people and relatives,

20 including his son, Ali Badreddine. In the first investigator's note,

21 which is P864MB, at position 62 of the presentation queue, we have two

22 photographs appearing at Annex A, ERN 60318150.

23 The first of the photograph we see identified Ali Khamanei, the

24 Iranian supreme leader, and seated on his right we see Ali Badreddine.

25 And in the photograph immediately below that we appear to see

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 61/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 61

1 Ali Khamenei providing a ring to Ali Badreddine who is in the process of

2 accepting it.

3 In the next exhibit, P865MB, which is at position 63 of the

4 presentation queue, Ms. Blanch has identified in the photographs that

5 appear to relate to that ceremony in Tehran on the 24th of May Ali

6 Badreddine, Mohammed Badreddine, at ERN 60318152. And again on the

7 following page 60318153, Ali Badreddine again being greeted.

8 So that comprises the evidence that I wanted to place before you.

9 If you wish, I can set out my understanding, which, I understand, has

10 been confirmed with the Ministry of Interior in Lebanon, as to the

11 process by which a death certificate is obtained.

12 So if the death occurs in Lebanon, the mayor, or Mokhtar, of the

13 area where the death took place would produce a death certificate within

14 a month at the request of the family or anyone who has an interest based

15 upon a certification of death issued by a hospital or a doctor. The

16 death certificate is signed by two witnesses from the close relatives or

17 neighbours of the deceased, the mayor sends the death certificate to the

18 civil registry office under the Ministry of Interior for Registration.

19 That's pursuant to Articles 30 to 34 on the Law of the Registration of

20 Documents Relating to Personal Status of 7 December 1951.

21 On the other hand, if the death occurs in a foreign country, the

22 relatives of the deceased have to submit to the closest Lebanese

23 consulate a certification of death issued by a hospital or a doctor. The

24 Lebanese consulate produces a death certificate, usually in a form that

25 the family are required to fill in. The death certificate is then sent

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 62/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 62

1 by the consulate in the diplomatic pouch to the Ministry of Foreign

2 Affairs in Lebanon which transfers it to the department of civil registry

3 and the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Interior sends it to

4 the regional civil registry office for registration, and that is found in

5 Article 39 on the Law of Registration of Documents Relating to Personal

6 Status of 7 December 1951.

7 In the event that the death certificate is not produced and

8 recorded in the civil registry, therefore the death is not declared in

9 the civil registry, it would be up to any concerned or interested person

10 to collect all the evidence proving the death and file a motion before a

11 single judge in Lebanon competent in matters of personal status in order

12 to declare the death. That judge has the authority to correct the

13 content of the civil registry records, and he or she has the discretion

14 on this matter. That's Article 21 of decree 887, dated 15 January 1932.

15 And the single judge now having replaced the conciliation court which is

16 mentioned in that degree.

17 I understand that this has been passed by the Ministry of

18 Interior who indicate that this is an accurate reflection of how one gets

19 a death certificate if one dies abroad or if one dies in Lebanon or if

20 nobody seeks the death certificate.

21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Are you saying that there is no central

22 repository as such in Lebanon. It is only if a death certificate has

23 been requested and issued by the Mokhtar that a copy is transmitted to

24 the civil registry. In the absence of that, there is no centralized

25 repository of death records in Lebanon.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 63/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 63

1 MR. CAMERON: It appears that one has -- that there has to be a

2 request made either by the family or, if not by the family, by an

3 interested person. Anyone who has an interest. And that is based --

4 that application is based upon a certification of death issued by a

5 hospital or a doctor. That's if the person dies in Lebanon.

6 If the person dies outside of Lebanon, I've read that portion.

7 But it appears as if there is no automatic machinery of the state that's

8 brought to bear to register a death even if the state is otherwise aware

9 of it unless there is a specific application made, which could be made by

10 the state, I suppose, as an interested party.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And I think you said earlier that the

12 Prosecution obtained a death certificate from Syria in respect of

13 Mr. Imad Mughniyah. It would have been last year or the year before?

14 MR. CAMERON: I'm not sure when the death certificate was issued

15 for Mr. Mughniyah. He passed away in 2008. It could have been, as you

16 say, in that period of time. I'd have to check, but there -- oh, my

17 friend may know.

18 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Thank you very much, Mr. Cameron.

19 I just rise to come to your assistance and to give the answer,

20 that the Syrian authorities issued a death certificate to the Lebanese

21 authorities pretty much a year following the death of Mr. Mughniyah.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you, Mr. Korkmaz.

23 Mr. Cameron, what's the corresponding process in Syria, given

24 that the Prosecution has obtained a death certificate from the Syrian

25 government before?

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 64/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 64

1 MR. CAMERON: The Prosecution in that case obtained the death

2 certificate from the Lebanese authorities who obtained it from the Syrian

3 government. And the situation now is more fluid than it was then, and I

4 cannot say now whether or not the STL has the capacity to ask for a death

5 certificate directly from the Syrian authorities, but we have asked and

6 intend to ask the Lebanese authorities to either obtain a death

7 certificate from the Syrian authorities or issue a death certificate

8 based upon their understanding of Mr. Badreddine's death, if they're

9 satisfied of his death.

10 So instead of -- what our position is now is we have asked for a

11 number of things from the Lebanon authorities, including the issuance of

12 a death certificate. Or, at their request, a death certificate from

13 Syria.

14 JUDGE AKOUM: Mr. Cameron, there is a clarification here. If the

15 death happened outside of Lebanon, for example in Syria, it's not the

16 Syrian authorities that produce the death certificate. It is the

17 Lebanese consulate in Syria upon the request of one of the relatives of

18 the deceased or any other interested person. So I think that the

19 submission should be forwarded also to the Lebanese authorities who ask

20 the consulate to do this, if possible.

21 The second issue, if you allow me, is that with respect to the

22 single judge, if there is no death certificate obtained by the Mokhtar or

23 the consulate outside Lebanon, the single judge has jurisdiction with

24 respect to non-Muslims. With respect to Muslims, it is the confessional

25 judge to whom the deceased person belongs who should make this judgement

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 65/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 65

1 of proof of the passing away of this person. Thank you.

2 MR. CAMERON: No, thank you. I understand your comment about

3 the -- if the death occurs in a foreign country, which is consistent with

4 what I read to you from this, that's really supplied to us by the

5 Ministry of Interior.

6 In respect of the difference between a Muslim and a non-Muslim

7 resident, I'm going to bow to your greater knowledge. I mean, you have

8 two Lebanese judges on the Bench who may have a more perfect sense of the

9 intricacies of the process than me. I've given you what information I

10 can based upon what I now know.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you, Mr. Cameron.

12 Mr. Korkmaz, do you have any evidence you wish to present? That

13 is simply, any documents or video or anything like that? We'll hear

14 submissions from the parties after you've presented any evidence.

15 So I'm not interested in evidentiary submissions at the moment

16 but just anything you want to present and put before the Court as

17 evidence.

18 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Your Honour, could I talk about the

19 death certificate itself? Because this has just cropped up with regard

20 to the legal dispositions currently in force to help people follow the

21 proceedings appropriately.

22 I've disclosed the 1951 law. You'll find this in number 6 or 7

23 in my latest presentation queue. And you'll find there, if I can refer

24 you to it, you will find there two suppositions: Either we're dealing

25 with a death in Lebanon or a death abroad outside Lebanon.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 66/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 66

1 Now, going to a death abroad, Article 39 of the law, which you

2 made mention of a moment ago, I can just read it out in Arabic for the

3 purposes of interpretation:

4 "If the death occurs in a foreign country, the parents of the

5 deceased or relatives must organize a certificate and send it with the ID

6 of the deceased to the closest Lebanese consulate, closest to their place

7 of residency, and the consulate will send the document and the ID

8 referred to to the Lebanese government to be registered."

9 Now, the wording of this article isn't very clear, but on the

10 face of it, you would think that the legislator has provided for the case

11 where somebody dies abroad where he also recognize with his family

12 abroad, therefore, and that's the underlying meaning, because how can a

13 form be given if the family are not with the deceased person to give it

14 then to the consulate?

15 So I think Article 39 doesn't apply. It doesn't obtain in these

16 circumstances. Consequently, in the absence of any clarity from the

17 text, I think we need to fall back on the law. Ordinary law.

18 Now, according to these dispositions in the law of 1951, but also

19 the law prevailing in the country where the death occurred. Now, if we

20 just run with that final idea, the idea that the death occurs abroad,

21 well, then it's the Syrian law which would obtain. And as the

22 authorities did for Mr. Mughniyeh, it's incumbent upon the Syrian

23 authorities to send a death certificate directly to the Lebanese

24 authorities responsible, therefore, for civil status. Those authorities

25 will transfer the document to the registrar of the office where

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 67/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 67

1 Mr. Mughniyah was recorded in order for his details to feature in the

2 records of that particular registry office.

3 So that procedure took a year to complete because, based on our

4 information, and that are actually -- have been disclosed, the Syrian

5 authorities, they themselves sent that statement to the Lebanese

6 authorities and then went down the avenues that I've just laid out for

7 you.

8 Now, that said, when a person, when the person has been buried in

9 Lebanon, as is the case with Mr. Badreddine, this begs the question:

10 What law prevails? What article prevails? Now, it hasn't been proven

11 that he died in a hospital or a prison, so it's really Article 30 of the

12 1951 law which applies.

13 Let me just read out that text in Arabic:

14 "The Mokhtar shall prepare the death certificates in the presence

15 of two witnesses. Then said documents shall be sent to the civil

16 registry offices within one month from the date of the death. When

17 possible, the two witnesses shall be of the closest relatives or

18 neighbours. If a person dies outside his or her place of residence, the

19 witness to the death and relatives to the present -- if not present."

20 So it's that particular -- that first paragraph which applies, in

21 my view. Or should at least apply in these circumstances, the

22 circumstances before us. And the Mokhtar, the mayor, if you will, only

23 needs to draw up that statement going to that. And this, therefore,

24 obligation is incumbent upon the Mokhtar. And the law states that all

25 you need are two close relatives as witnesses, and I say if it hasn't

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 68/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 68

1 been challenged and it's not challengeable by the Prosecutor here in

2 court today, because we saw in all the material that has been disclosed

3 the two closest relatives to Mr. Badreddine were two brothers, Mr. Adnan

4 Badreddine and Mr. Hassan Badreddine. And, of course, Ali -- no, Ali is

5 the son. I clarify. Mr. Mohammed Badreddine is the third person I was

6 thinking of.

7 So today we have seen records, evidence going to the fact that

8 these three people have announced, have been involved, actually, in the

9 funeral proceedings, and so they can be the two or three witnesses

10 falling within the ambit of Article 30, whereby its Mokhtar, the mayor,

11 it's up to him to draw up the death certificate within 30 days.

12 So today we are still within that period. Those 30 days haven't

13 yet come to term. So the death occurred on the 12th, and so it's on the

14 12th of June that the Mokhtar -- by that date the Mokhtar has to fulfil

15 his duties. So he's not a private official, he's a public official. A

16 ministerial official, if I can put it that way. So the obligation to

17 draw up this document falls upon the shoulders of the Mokhtar who has to

18 do so. And if this latter doesn't -- within that 30-day period, doesn't

19 draw up the certificate, then he can be prosecuted and he can be fined,

20 and disciplinary measures can be taken against him, and this goes to

21 Article 33 of the law, which I cited to and which provides for that very

22 situation, and I quote:

23 "If the Mokhtar doesn't draw up the certificate, then that

24 obligation falls to the Mouhafez, as a prefect or a governor, if you

25 will, or a Qaimaqam, which is a subprefect, or a subgovernor, who have to

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 69/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 69

1 draw up the document and send it to the interested party based on the

2 civil records."

3 So the issuing of the death certificate is an obligation. It is

4 an administrative obligation which has no bearing on the evidence of the

5 death per se. So an administrative formality which is imposed upon local

6 political, administrative bodies who are public officials and therefore

7 need to undertake this work in order to have on civil records the death

8 in question.

9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Do you have any evidence you wish to

10 present? Thank you for your explanation of how to obtain a death

11 certificate, but do you have any documents you wish to present before we

12 move to submissions?

13 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Just to round off on that

14 particular point, Your Honour. What I'm saying -- the thrust of what I'm

15 saying is that it's incumbent upon the Lebanese state, the administrative

16 bodies, Lebanese bodies, to produce the certificate. It's up to the

17 Lebanese authorities to do this, and they have to do the work and have

18 its public officials draft the death certificate.

19 So by way of conclusion, because this cropped up, that's the

20 civil side to the matter, but we could turn to the religious side of the

21 matter. There is Islamic Sharia which may also obtain in these

22 circumstances, and the Sharia Islamic in the Shiite side goes to the

23 proof of death and not only to the administrative side about the record.

24 It goes to the proof of death.

25 And let me just read this out in Arabic:

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 70/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 70

1 "In proving the death, and these are the regulations in place

2 within the Shiite confession. So to prove death it is sufficient to

3 prove death with the legitimate proof. It means to inform two persons or

4 just to inform this person. When we talk about the right witness, we

5 mean by that the person who is well known for his virtue, for his

6 credibility and integrity, we mean by that to disclose the news. This

7 person or the clergyman will organize the death certificate and this

8 certificate should be registered in the civil registry."

9 So we saw this in the material presented. There is no doubt

10 about the identity of the persons, the members of Badreddine's family who

11 were in attendance, religious public figures who were also in attendance

12 and who organized the funeral and who actually received the condolences.

13 There is no shadow of a doubt about the existence of his death that was

14 reported very broadly and widely and it cannot, therefore, be challenged

15 by anybody today. So that goes to the religious side of the equation and

16 the rules thereto.

17 Turning to evidence, I would like to present three matters before

18 your Chamber. First, and you have this in my presentation queue

19 number 1, and its translation appears in position 2, and this can be

20 brought up in our screens, with your leave, Your Honour. That particular

21 document is the death announcement of Mr. Badreddine.

22 Now, this announcement, as you can see at the top there, states,

23 sets out the date scheduled for receiving the condolences, time, date,

24 and what have you, and then the place where the funeral will take place.

25 And then primarily at the bottom, and this is what is of most importance,

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 71/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 71

1 that this death announcement comes from Hezbollah and from the family of

2 martyr Badreddine. So it's the family who is making this statement, and

3 that statement is enough, in light of what I've just presented before

4 you, with regard to the drawing up of the death certificate.

5 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: [Interpretation] And where was it published?

6 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] It was posted on the internet.

7 Because, in theory, death announcements, Your Honour, and members of the

8 Bench, the Lebanese Bench can bear this out, announcements of this type

9 are printed and then circulated among all those who are the intended

10 recipients. This is done by hand and this is what the rule stipulates.

11 There is no official notification, official announcement, but this

12 particular document posted on internet, on Facebook. I can give you the

13 reference, Facebook.com on Mustafa.Badre.ddine/photo.

14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I take it you want an exhibit number for

15 this?

16 MR. KORKMAZ: Yes, please.

17 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. The death announcement as

18 described by Mr. Korkmaz of Mr. Mustafa Badreddine will be 2D248MB.

19 And I just need an ERN, if you can provide me with one please.

20 I'm told that you will be obtaining an ERN for us and informing the

21 Registry of it so it can be joined with the document. And the

22 translations into the various languages will be .1 and .2 -- sorry, I

23 start then, 2D248.1 and .2MB.

24 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Turning to the second document.

25 This is the sending of the death announcement of Mr. Badreddine as well

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 72/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 72

1 as the date of the funeral. This is the official communique which was

2 sent to the national press agency, Lebanese -- well, the national news

3 agency to be more precise. This is my sixth document on my presentation

4 queue.

5 And this particular document, it's an official document, an

6 official announcement, was handed to that Lebanese entity and which then

7 passed it on to the various media outlets. I'm not going to cite all the

8 names of the newspapers that the death announcement was given to. But I

9 would like to say in respect of this that this particular document was

10 published, was given to the Lebanese entity on Friday, the 13th of May,

11 at 7.43 in the morning, and I'm referring to the information featuring on

12 my document at position 6. And I'll just read out very quickly in Arabic

13 what was said:

14 "Hezbollah announced the death of the martyr Badreddine and

15 accepts blessings today. Hezbollah announces the following statement:

16 The God said 'Among the believers are men who have been true to their

17 covenant with Allah, of them some who have completed their vow and some

18 still wait, but they have never changed their determination in the

19 least.' Hezbollah welcomes the blessings for the death of the great

20 jihadist leader Mustafa Badreddine on Friday from 9.00 a.m. till 12.00

21 noon and from 4.00 p.m. till 7.00 p.m. in Al-Mujtaba complex in

22 Hay-El-Amrican area."

23 This is just one extract from the death announcement and the

24 funeral of Mr. Badreddine.

25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Likewise, you want an exhibit number for

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 73/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 73

1 that?

2 MR. KORKMAZ: Yes, please.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And likewise, do you have an ERN? Not yet.

4 Okay. So that will be 2D249MB, awaiting an ERN.

5 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] I would like to have received

6 another document, and that's the public announcement that was done

7 through the vice-president of the Shiite Islamic Superior Council,

8 Mr. Abdel Al-Amir Kabalan, who announced Mustafa Badreddine. And this

9 particular gentleman -- well, this Shiite Islamic Superior Council, who

10 is the highest Shiite Islamic bodies, and I would like to read out the

11 passage for the purposes of interpretation.

12 "The vice-president of the higher Shiite council, Sheikh

13 Abdel-Amir Kabalan, has declared the death of the leader Mustafa

14 Badreddine and issued a statement saying the following: 'We surely

15 belong to Allah and to him we shall return. There is no might, no power,

16 except in Allah. We would like to pay our tribute to all the brothers in

17 the Arab world for the death of the great leader and courageous leader

18 who has spent most of his life in a jihad and fighting the Zionist enemy

19 until his martyrdom that is for those who, like him, are victorious. He

20 was one of the founders of the victory against the Zionist foundation and

21 stopped the advance of the Zionists in 2000 and defeated it in 2006.

22 With his brothers, he has faced the Takfiri in Defence of Lebanon and to

23 preserve and safeguard its sovereignty and for the best of humanity as a

24 whole in the face of the Takfiri terrorism that is growing and that is

25 working in line with the Zionist enemy in the killings and violence.'

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 74/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Badreddine Defence (Open Session) Page 74

1 And added, 'With his martyrdom we have lost a jihadi and a great leader

2 who has followed the teaching of the great prophet and ended his process

3 with martyrdom, a blessed martyrdom that makes him a live person in

4 heaven. He is of the martyrs who do not die and their memory will remain

5 forever in the conscience of the nation and he will have great brothers

6 and heros who will follow in his footsteps in jihad and resistance and

7 will fight terrorism, the Zionist terrorism and the Takfiri terrorists."

8 And he concluded by saying:

9 "We pay our condolences for our brothers, for our people, and all

10 the free and rebels throughout the world in the death of this great

11 martyr, and we tell them that this is the end of every resistant figure,

12 and we ask God to have mercy on his soul. And the mother that gives life

13 to the likes of Badreddine and Imad Mughniyeh and the likes, many of the

14 martyrs will create great heros who follow in the discipline, who are

15 well known for their behaviour."

16 So that was the statement to announce the passing of

17 Mr. Badreddine. So we have the civil side of things, the religious side

18 of things, the familial side of things which all go to make up the

19 material in addition to that already presented by the Prosecutor.

20 Thank you.

21 And, of course, I'd like to -- like it to go in, please.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that will be Exhibit 2D250MB. Where

23 was it published and when?

24 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Your Honour, this document was

25 published on the internet web site by the Beirutobserver.com 2016-2005 --

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 75/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 75

1 or slashes more than dots.

2 THE INTERPRETER: Interpreter correction, not 2005. May. The

3 month of May.

4 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I seem to have missed the date.

5 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] The date, Your Honour, is -- as I

6 said, it's 2016/05. And the -- well, that's all I've got by way of date.

7 But I think it's 25th of May, 2016.

8 But do forgive me, 27th of May, 2016. And that's the capture of

9 the information, per se, if you like. But I'm just picking it out here.

10 It's the 13th of May, 2016. I'm picking it out. But that's the date of

11 the communique, 13th of May, 2016.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, that makes more sense. That's your

13 evidence, Mr. Korkmaz? Not your submissions, just your evidence.

14 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Yes, I have finished, Your Honour.

15 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, thank you.

16 Mr. Cameron, how long do you need with your submissions, do you

17 think?

18 MR. CAMERON: Just a few minutes, I think. I've tried to

19 incorporate the basics of my submissions into my comments in respect of

20 the evidence.

21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right, we'll hear from you now then.

22 MR. CAMERON: All right. I had taken you originally to the Jerbo

23 decision, and I won't take you back again to it, but it seems to stand

24 for the proposition that in the absence of formal -- the usual kind of

25 documentation that a court might accept without looking beyond it for

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 76/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 76

1 death is not a prerequisite for the Court considering the totality of

2 evidence in its absence.

3 So, in my respectful submission, it's open to you to consider the

4 kind of evidence that was brought before you today, in the absence of a

5 death certificate in order to consider whether or not you're satisfied

6 that Mr. Badreddine has indeed passed away.

7 In doing so and in looking at the circumstantial evidence, you're

8 entitled to take into account the various ceremonies that were organized

9 in Beirut, in Damascus, and in visitation in Iran, the types of people

10 who participated in the various ceremonies who were of a military nature,

11 a religious nature, the senior and -- the most senior members of

12 Hezbollah who acknowledged his membership in their organization, the

13 members of his family, the three brothers and his son, the demeanour of

14 the members of his family that you witnessed during the course of the

15 photographs, and the fact that there is a military component and also a

16 religious component to most of the services that were conducted in one

17 form or another.

18 All in all, the number of people and the scope of the

19 participants and attendees who appeared to recognize the death of Mustafa

20 Badreddine speak overwhelmingly of his actual death, and it is open to

21 you, in my submission, to find that there's, in fact, overwhelming

22 circumstantial evidence of his death.

23 I don't know, having presented the evidence, what more I could

24 say beyond that. I would urge you to consider the ongoing nature of the

25 prosecution, the potential for significant delay in acquiring the single

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 77/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 77

1 piece of document. And having regard to what has been described as to

2 the process, would such a document add true corroboration of an

3 independent sort to the evidence that is already able to be before you

4 for consideration?

5 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: What do you say, Mr. Cameron, to lack of any

6 evidence, direct or otherwise, in relation to the circumstances of

7 Mr. Badreddine's death, and in fact in the media there have been

8 conflicting reports even coming from within Hezbollah as to how

9 Mr. Badreddine died?

10 MR. CAMERON: Well, unless the -- the circumstances of the death

11 took place, apparently, in a foreign state in circumstances where there

12 was a battle ongoing. And --

13 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: A battle?

14 MR. CAMERON: Well --

15 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: -- in the vicinity or a battle in that

16 state?

17 MR. CAMERON: That state. And it appears that there was some

18 sort of explosion that the source of which, from my reading of the news

19 reports, is unclear as to precisely the cause of the explosion. At the

20 end of the day, in my respectful submission it -- the sole issue is

21 whether or not Mr. Badreddine is actually dead. And if you're -- if the

22 lack of clarity as to the circumstances of the death is of sufficient

23 moment to you that it ousts what you would otherwise be able to find,

24 then it might well be of some significance to you, but in my respectful

25 submission, the precise nature of his death in a military context is

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 78/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 78

1 not -- may not be something that you might give high regard to.

2 If it was so unusual that it sort of rebuts the other evidence

3 that's before you, then that would be one thing. In this circumstance,

4 I'm not sure what you should make of it or whether or not it's of true

5 significance. I'm not sure that, to be perfectly honest with you, that

6 Hezbollah, with its lack of cooperation with the STL and who conducted

7 the original investigation, will ever be forthcoming about what actually

8 happened.

9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: But to be satisfied that someone is dead, of

10 course -- of course that's the issue, whether Mr. Badreddine is dead or

11 not. But there has to be a cause of death. What do you say about the

12 lack of any independent evidence about the fact that he's dead? You've

13 presented to us evidence of a funeral in Beirut, statements by various

14 officials from different countries, and of course the evidence of the

15 relatives. But there is nothing you presented to us so far of an

16 independent nature in relation to the fact that Mr. Badreddine died.

17 MR. CAMERON: No, you're quite correct. Had I had any evidence

18 to present to you in that regard, you can imagine that I would have

19 brought it to your attention. This is not a perfect situation. I accept

20 that. But there are several factors at work, and I'm not -- I have not

21 come to you to urge you to take a particular position. I've come to you

22 to present the evidence as fairly as I can before you to permit you to

23 consider whether or not you're satisfied, in all the circumstances, that

24 Mr. Badreddine is actually dead.

25 I have no further evidence to offer you yet.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 79/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 79

1 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: So from what you're saying is your

2 submission: Well, this is all we have. We don't have any independent

3 evidence to suggest how he died, and therefore the fact that he is dead.

4 All we have is the news reports, which we've exhibited, and that's it?

5 MR. CAMERON: Well, when you say "the news reports," it's the

6 news reports of his death, but there are also recorded images of what I

7 think can be taken to be actual events with all of the attendees --

8 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: There is no dispute about that, no.

9 MR. CAMERON: All right, sorry.

10 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: That there was a funeral in Beirut, no.

11 My question to you is what's your submission about the lack of

12 independent verification of the fact of death?

13 MR. CAMERON: Well, it's something that has to weigh in the mix

14 in your consideration of all of the factors. There is no doubt about

15 that. And we will continue, in the Office of the Prosecutor, to press

16 the Lebanese authorities for any further information that might be

17 forthcoming to confirm or otherwise corroborate the death of

18 Mr. Badreddine in the future. But as things stand today, this is the

19 full set of circumstances that I can bring to your attention.

20 And it may be that you are sufficiently troubled by the lack of

21 independent corroboration to not find it safe to make a finding. All I

22 can do in this proceeding is to present all of the evidence that I have,

23 which is -- all of which is consistent with death. And really, it's now

24 up to you to decide whether or not you're satisfied or able to make a

25 decision on the basis of the evidence that the parties have offered to

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 80/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 80

1 you.

2 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Is there any evidence other than that which

3 comes directly from Hezbollah that Mr. Badreddine is in fact dead?

4 MR. CAMERON: I'm unaware of any evidence other than that which

5 comes from Hezbollah to indicate that Mr. Badreddine is dead.

6 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: What about other states? You've mentioned

7 request for assistance of Lebanon. Are there other states which might

8 have information that they could perhaps share with the Special Tribunal?

9 MR. CAMERON: Our present position is that the Lebanese

10 authorities are responsible for determining the death of one of its

11 citizens who lies interred in its state and we will continue to press

12 them. If there is any reasonable likelihood that we could obtain

13 reliable, admissible evidence which could be presented to you from

14 another state, we would certainly consider that. But as things presently

15 stand now, we are encouraging the Lebanese authorities to act with -- in

16 a timely way to produce and discover evidence that we can present to you.

17 JUDGE AKOUM: Mr. Cameron, it's well known that what is called

18 Al-Mufti, Al-Jaafari, is the highest official religious figure in the

19 Shiite community, for example. What is your assessment to the

20 declaration of the Shiite Mufti, Mr. Ahmad Kabalan, which was presented

21 in the morning session, declaring and offering his condolences for the

22 death of Mr. Badreddine? And don't you consider him an independent,

23 impartial figure in this respect?

24 MR. CAMERON: I don't take issue with the Mufti's independence or

25 impartiality. However, I would ask, and you might well ask, what is the

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 81/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 81

1 source of his knowledge to determine whether or not Mr. Badreddine is

2 dead. And so without knowing the source of his knowledge, which could be

3 the same source that we've alluded to before, it's difficult to regard

4 that particular piece of evidence as independent and corroborative,

5 without any disrespect to the Mufti.

6 But you may well have a better and more finely tuned assessment

7 of certain aspects of the evidence than I do, and that's why I put, in

8 fairness, all of the evidence that I presently possess before you to

9 determine whether or not you consider it sufficient to make a decision.

10 This is now a matter, in my respectful submission, for the Trial Chamber

11 to consider having heard the evidence.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: The reason I raised the issue about the

13 states a moment ago was in Syria clearly there is an armed conflict of a

14 certain character going on. Clearly, there is a civil war, in some

15 respects. It's a non-international armed conflict in some respects. And

16 it would appear from reports you can read in the media that there is an

17 international aspect to it as well, with support from other states to the

18 various combatants or sides. That's why I raised the issue of possible

19 assistance from other states which might have information about

20 Mr. Badreddine given the announcement from Hezbollah afterwards about his

21 apparent significance to Hezbollah and especially in that particular

22 conflict, and that's also coming from the Syrian government as shown by

23 the large ceremony in the mosque in Damascus.

24 MR. CAMERON: No, you're quite right. The condolences of the

25 Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, were conveyed at the funeral services.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 82/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 82

1 I understand what you're saying. I'm not sure that I can assist you with

2 an answer at the moment, and I don't want to keep on repeating myself:

3 This is what I have at present for you. We will continue, as I've said,

4 to pursue any possible avenue to discover corroborative, confirmatory, or

5 in the absence of that even the official position of the Lebanese state

6 as to one of its citizens. At the moment, this is the state of the

7 evidence.

8 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Mr. Cameron, I do have a challenge because I do

9 concede that one might not look to evidence of the cause of death but

10 there is also no evidence that there was a body which was the body of the

11 alleged deceased and that that body was seen in a state and condition of

12 death. And for me, unless there is very clear and strong evidence, I

13 would be hard put to a finding that's conclusive or even may be as far as

14 being conditional.

15 So I'm not certain that you can actually say because there was a

16 condolence ceremony and because pursuant to that condolence ceremony

17 there was a procession leading to a place of internment and other factors

18 stopping short that you can reach the type of finding that you're asking

19 for.

20 MR. CAMERON: First, I don't want to be misunderstood on this

21 issue, and I hope that I have been quite clear. I am not asking you and

22 have never said that you ought to, and I am not urging you to find as a

23 fact that Mustafa Badreddine is dead. I hope I have been quite clear

24 from the beginning on that issue.

25 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Yes.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 83/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 83

1 MR. CAMERON: I am not urging you to make that finding. What I

2 am doing is putting you in the position so that you understand the nature

3 of the evidence as it presently stands in the appropriate legal context

4 of the jurisprudence of the international tribunals so that you can

5 consider whether or not you wish to make a finding of that nature.

6 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Yes.

7 MR. CAMERON: I am not urging you to make any finding one way or

8 the other.

9 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Thank you for the correction. Taken with

10 humility. But the high point at which you started off was a reference to

11 Jerbo and to say that the case was terminated without prejudice.

12 MR. CAMERON: Yes, that's right. And my reference to Jerbo was

13 to provide a legal basis for you to be able to consider circumstantial

14 evidence of death that arose where the Tribunal did not have in its

15 possession formal documentation, such as the issuance of a death

16 certificate. I don't take Jerbo any farther than that.

17 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: Thank you for your assistance.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Just on that, Mr. Cameron. I certainly

19 understand that you're not urging anything and you're just saying the

20 Chamber could make a finding based upon the evidence you presented.

21 Judge Nosworthy just raised an issue there where she said she had

22 a challenge because there was no evidence about the body and whose body

23 it was at the funeral. Are you able to say anything about that to

24 assuage Judge Nosworthy's concerns or challenge?

25 MR. CAMERON: No, and it's something that you are quite right to

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 84/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 84

1 take into account in looking at the entirety of the evidence.

2 I opened my submissions by saying that it appeared as if

3 Hezbollah had exerted exclusive control over the investigation into the

4 death, the transportation of the body from Syria back to Lebanon, the

5 organization of the notices relating to death, the organization of the

6 ceremonies relating to death, the funeral, and the interment in their --

7 in a cemetery in which they control, the martyr's cemetery.

8 So there has been no involvement, as I said earlier, of the

9 Lebanese civilian authorities, as would be normal in a case where one of

10 its citizens died. And I gather that Hezbollah has maintained, and I

11 think the evidence seems to suggest, that Hezbollah has maintained tight

12 control over all of the circumstances relating to the death of that

13 person of whom they now describe as a top military commander.

14 So we have no evidence as to the circumstances of the body being

15 transported back or anybody who has viewed the body, and we have asked

16 for such evidence of the prosecutor-general. We so far have not received

17 anything of that nature. You're quite right, it's something that you

18 must take into account in considering the entirety of the evidence.

19 JUDGE NOSWORTHY: I just wanted to ask also based on Monsieur

20 Korkmaz's submissions, does it mean that we are acting prematurely and we

21 have to wait for, I think, a period of 30 days before we can reasonably

22 make a decision concerning death?

23 MR. CAMERON: As I understand Mr. Korkmaz's submission, was that

24 that was the -- those were the -- that time-period related to the

25 issuance of a death certificate.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 85/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Further Submissions by the Prosecution (Open Session) Page 85

1 Now, you may or may not decide that you need a death certificate.

2 It's appropriate in consideration of all of the factors to consider

3 whether or not you would need to adjourn the proceedings until you got a

4 death certificate or not. So at the stage where there are not ongoing

5 proceedings, this is a much simpler matter. Lengths of time can be taken

6 in order to discover whether formal certification or corroboration can be

7 attend.

8 Here you're in a slightly different position. We have an ongoing

9 proceeding. You may well come to the circumstance where in this state of

10 limbo, you feel it necessary to wait for the issuance of some sort of

11 official documentation from Lebanon. That's not my position to you,

12 though. My position to you is this is the evidence, and it's for you to

13 consider what the best course is going forward.

14 JUDGE LETTIERI: I would like to sum up your evidence. According

15 to your evidence, the only subject, the only power, legal or de facto, I

16 don't put forward a definition, which can give us certain evidence of the

17 death of Badreddine is a power who expressly doesn't want to collaborate

18 with the Tribunal.

19 As for the official document, I wonder how is it possible to ask

20 for an official document if all this investigation, all this managing of

21 the death belongs to a power other than the state? Am I right in this

22 summing up? If I am right, I find that I think that it's difficult to

23 search a progression in this fact.

24 MR. CAMERON: I think there is a lot in what you say, and that's

25 why I took you to that portion of the secretary-general's speech where he

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 86/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 86

1 talks expressly about his view of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. It

2 is clear, and I think you are absolutely right, that tight control has

3 occurred in the military organization, from death to burial, without the

4 involvement of civilian authorities, and that entity is one which is not

5 friendly to the Tribunal.

6 You may be completely right that nothing will ever come --

7 nothing more will ever come of this as a result of that stance by

8 Hezbollah. But we're not omniscient. It is the duty of the

9 prosecutor-general and the authorities in Lebanon to pursue any avenue

10 which could lead to further information confirming the death of

11 Mr. Badreddine. You may feel as if that possibility is slight and you

12 may be entirely right about that.

13 JUDGE LETTIERI: So we have described the current situation. Do

14 you think that this situation can progress or not? Frankly.

15 MR. CAMERON: I always give you a frank answer. But in this

16 case, I'm unable to give you any answer. My hope is that there can be

17 some progress. I also understand that it could turn out to be -- there

18 could turn out to be no progress. And that's why I thought it suitable

19 at this stage to bring the current state of affairs to your attention.

20 You may be right that there will be no progress, but I really would like

21 to answer you and cannot.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you, Mr. Cameron.

23 Mr. Haynes.

24 MR. HAYNES: I think this is a little premature, what we're

25 trying to do today. The nature of victims' observations on a topic such

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 87/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 87

1 as this are rather different to the submissions of the parties, so I'm

2 going to start by doing something which is fairly unique for me. I'm

3 going to tell you what we've been doing and how we've gathered or

4 instructions.

5 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. Just in relation to your comment a

6 moment ago, you think it's a little premature what we're trying to do

7 today. The Chamber is simply hearing from the parties and the

8 participants as to what the state is. It's not that we're actually

9 trying to do something today. The accomplishment today, at the end of

10 the day, I hope, is to have as much information before us as possible.

11 And as Mr. Cameron says, to be frank, we don't actually know where we're

12 going to go from here, so we're just trying to find out what we have so

13 that we can make a decision or an interim decision.

14 MR. HAYNES: It was really Mr. Cameron's remark that caused me to

15 make that observation and not anything that you'd said.

16 So that you know for the last ten days or so, we've been busy

17 gathering the views of our clients about the situation following the

18 announcement about Mustafa Badreddine on May the 13th. And to simplify

19 things, we presented them really with a range of options which we thought

20 reflected the sorts of ways in which this situation had been dealt with

21 in international criminal law and a range of options as to how they

22 thought or what their views were at this stage as to how matters should

23 proceed.

24 I'll come to, as it were, the second question first. It's

25 unanimously their view that whatever decisions you make about the

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 88/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 88

1 vitality of Mustafa Badreddine or otherwise, that the trial should

2 continue as best it can without interruption.

3 As to the primary question, it's their view that the Chamber

4 should require proper, formal, cogent proof of Mr. Mustafa Badreddine's

5 death, and that should be either in the form of some personal

6 identification of the body through DNA evidence or recognition of any

7 physical peculiarities by somebody who would know him, and, as a last

8 resort, a death certificate.

9 Now, we've reviewed, as it were, the law in ICL relating to

10 accused who are alleged to have died. And leaving aside just for one

11 moment, though, not for very long, the case of Jerbo, it's our reading of

12 the decided cases that a death certificate is the minimal requirement

13 before proceedings against an accused are terminated. And you might like

14 to look, and I'll do this as quickly as I can, at the cases of Bobetko,

15 Talic, and Alilovic at the ICTY. That's Alilovic without an H. And

16 perhaps the most graphically of all the case of Muammar Qadhafi at the

17 ICC who you might recall was graphically murdered on video. But

18 notwithstanding that, proceedings against him before the ICC were not

19 terminated until they saw a death certificate.

20 In other cases where, as it were, the validity of the death

21 certificate or the genuineness of it was questioned, the ICC have

22 required rather more than just a death certificate. And you might want

23 to look at the three or four cases in the Uganda situation, and that's on

24 the Kony indictment, Rasca Lukwiya was disinterred and his body was

25 tested by DNA. Otti was reported to be dead in 2006 in many press

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 89/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 89

1 outlets, but the indictment against him still lies. And the third is

2 Odhiambo, Okot Odhiambo, who was similarly disinterred and his body was

3 tested against DNA. Yet notwithstanding that, the ICC still awaited a

4 death certificate before they terminated proceedings against him.

5 So it's our submission, really, that a death certificate is a

6 minimum requirement, and in many cases the Court should look not just for

7 a formal document recording somebody's death but, as Judge Nosworthy puts

8 it, that some evidence that the person who is dead is the accused named

9 in the indictment, and that's normally done by some form of secondary

10 identification by DNA or otherwise.

11 The important thing about the Jerbo case -- well, there were

12 several important things about it. I mean, it never was a case, to be

13 perfectly honest, Banda and Jerbo were indicted nine years ago and

14 literally nothing happened. And you'll see if you read the pleadings in

15 that case that both sides have been complaining about non-compliance. In

16 Darfur, the Defence applied to stay the indictment. There's an abuse of

17 process because they were unable to investigate, and the pragmatic

18 approach of the Trial Chamber has to be viewed against that background in

19 my submission.

20 But even having said that, what the Trial Chamber said there was

21 the circumstances of the case at hand are unusual in that it is not

22 possible to obtain an official death certificate or otherwise safely

23 explore other measures to prove with certainties Mr. Jerbo's death; for

24 example, exhumation followed by DNA analysis.

25 And so in order to, as it were, find Mr. Badreddine's death

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 90/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 90

1 proved by circumstantial evidence, you would have to be satisfied that it

2 was not possible to obtain a death certificate from the Republic of

3 Lebanon, nor to obtain certain evidence of his death by other means. And

4 in our submission, we are nowhere near that position.

5 I just pause to make a few, as it were, factual observations. I

6 mean, what do we know about Mr. Badreddine? We know how old he was, we

7 know what his date of birth was, we know he was married, we know he had

8 children, we know he had brothers. We know according to the evidence

9 we've heard in this case that he was a man of some considerable wealth.

10 He had boats and cars and jewellery shops and quite a lot of assets which

11 doubtless, if he is dead, are going to form part of some estate that

12 somebody, probably his family, are going to be interested in, and they

13 are going to want to get a death certificate so that they can get things

14 moving to inherit what he owned.

15 We know also that he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment in

16 Kuwait. I'm fairly sure that before he was received into detention there

17 somebody took his fingerprints --

18 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] I do object, Your Honour. I ask my

19 friend to not prejudice the acts of Mr. Badreddine. Mr. Badreddine is

20 dead, he requires a presumption of innocence and that needs to be

21 properly safeguarded.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Mr. Haynes, I take it you're addressing the

23 allegations in the indictment?

24 MR. HAYNES: Yes.

25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And the pre-trial brief?

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 91/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 91

1 MR. HAYNES: Quite.

2 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I think that's as far as Mr. Haynes is

3 taking it, Mr. Korkmaz. He's just saying these are the allegations the

4 Prosecution has raised in the consolidated indictment and has pleaded in

5 its pre-trial brief.

6 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Your Honour, this is not the topic

7 at hand. What is the topic at hand? Well, it goes to the matter of

8 establishing whether there is sufficient evidence to say that

9 Mr. Badreddine is dead or not. So I want that to be properly followed.

10 We shouldn't go off on a tangent, because otherwise this will breach the

11 presumption of innocence, and I cannot accept that.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: What Mr. Haynes is saying is merely a

13 submission, it's not evidence. And it's only -- I understand it,

14 Mr. Haynes will correct me if I'm wrong, to develop his argument as to

15 why the Chamber should not accept, as proof of his death, the evidence

16 the Prosecution has presented at the moment.

17 Is that correct, Mr. Haynes?

18 MR. HAYNES: Your Honour, yes, I was merely going to submit that

19 there is a strong possibility that the means of personal identification

20 of his body exist somewhere at this moment in time, and I'll take it no

21 further than that.

22 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay, please continue.

23 MR. HAYNES: We know his funeral was well attended by members of

24 his family and other people and that his coffin was carried by a large

25 number of people. And so we do submit that the means of identification

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 92/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 92

1 by those who knew him perhaps could recognize his battle scars and his

2 distinctively injured leg after his death is readily obtainable. And so

3 we submit that at this point in time it would be inappropriate to

4 determine that he was dead by reference to video films and photographs of

5 funerals and memorial services. That, we submit, is less than the

6 minimal standard of proof required before international criminal courts,

7 would send out the wrong message to the people of Lebanon in whose name

8 this Tribunal has been created, and would establish an extremely

9 dangerous precedent.

10 And at quarter past 4.00, I think that's all I want to say.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Do you have anything to submit about the

12 photograph which the Prosecution has tendered which is marked as P724

13 MFI, which is the photograph of -- if that could just be put on the

14 screen, of someone who is supposed to be -- or there was evidence that it

15 was Sami Issa, and the significance of that photograph compared to the

16 photographs purported to be of Mr. Badreddine in the funerals and

17 condolences ceremonies and the ceremonies in the mosque in Beirut and

18 Damascus?

19 MR. HAYNES: Well, it might have a great deal of significance if

20 we had a photograph of the corpse, but I don't really see how that

21 photograph compared to photographs which have been put about by Hezbollah

22 since Mr. Badreddine apparently died really helps you at all.

23 The one other point I suppose I ought to make, which I've been

24 reminded of, is, of course, that this is, allegedly, the mastermind of

25 this terrorist attack --

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 93/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 93

1 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Your Honour, I do apologize to rise

2 once more, but I cannot accept such statements at this juncture.

3 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Maybe the word "allegedly" wasn't

4 translated, if you were listening to it in French, but I heard it very

5 clearly in English, and I think Mr. Haynes was simply repeating the

6 allegation in the indictment, that Mr. Badreddine was the person

7 primarily responsible as the main conspirator. But that's only an

8 allegation.

9 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Yes, but it is besides the point

10 henceforth. And so before going forward with regard to allegations or

11 suppositions going to the involvement of X, Y, or Z in such an event or

12 another, for me, given the fact that Mr. Badreddine is dead, I'm just

13 waiting for a decision from your Chamber about the termination of the

14 Prosecution proceedings. But up until that point, he does benefit from

15 presumption of innocence, and I don't think it's tolerable that there

16 should be questions or doubts or anything going to suggest anything else,

17 and I would oppose myself to that quite strongly.

18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right, we'll hear from you tomorrow

19 fully with your submissions, Mr. Korkmaz. Clearly, we won't get to them

20 today.

21 Mr. Haynes, what about the obvious grief expressed by members of

22 Mr. Badreddine's family as shown in some of the stills the Prosecution

23 presented in its evidence earlier today. Are you suggesting that they

24 could have been duped and led to believe that Mr. Badreddine was dead but

25 in the absence of any real proof that he is dead?

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 94/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 94

1 MR. HAYNES: I think you've paraphrased what I would say in

2 response to that perfectly nicely. If there were direct evidence from

3 the person expressing that grief that he had seen the body of Mustafa

4 Badreddine, that would be a wholly different thing. But a mere still

5 photograph of somebody looking upset at his brother's funeral is not the

6 most potent piece of evidence, with the greatest of respect.

7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Before you referred to the ICTY case,

8 Stipo Alilovic, that was part of the Kupreskic proceedings. Can you

9 remind me what the circumstances of Mr. Alilovic's death were?

10 MR. HAYNES: It was pre-arrest so it has no indictment number.

11 The other two do. I can give them to you, if you want. Bobetko is

12 IT-02-62-1; and Talic --

13 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I'm fully aware of Talic and Bobetko. The

14 circumstances were quite different because both were accused and the

15 proceedings against both were terminated due to ill-health, and they both

16 died in hospital. One, I think in Belgrade, the other in Zagreb, or

17 Croatia, yes. But Alilovic died before -- after his indictment but

18 before his transfer to The Hague. Or did he get provisional release, I

19 can't remember. Do you know what the circumstances of his death were and

20 the evidence presented to the court, or would it be in the decision?

21 MR. HAYNES: Only that he died before transfer. I can certainly

22 come back to you tomorrow morning on that if you want it in more detail.

23 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Yes, because there were several at the ICTY

24 where proceedings were terminated before the accused actually got to

25 The Hague. Several, I think, were -- died in arrest operations. So

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 95/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 95

1 there was evidence of that from those involved. I think it was NATO or

2 SFOR.

3 MR. HAYNES: Yes, and the only case that we found where somebody

4 died during the course of a trial is, of course, Milosevic. But he was

5 in detention.

6 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Dokmanovic, awaiting judgement; Delic,

7 awaiting appeal; Gvero, awaiting appeal judgement; Alagic, that was

8 before trial.

9 JUDGE AKOUM: [Interpretation] Mr. Korkmaz, since the submissions

10 will be followed up tomorrow, I would like to draw your attention to the

11 fact that the Islamic Sharia states -- or that there is a specific prayer

12 for those who -- like, for example, if you have the body that is not

13 existing. For example, if the body of Badreddine was not present or

14 available, then the prayer said by the imam would be totally different

15 than that the prayer that will be used in the presence of the body.

16 So there is a prayer for the body that is not present during the

17 funeral. So what is the impact of that on proving the death of

18 Badreddine and that his body was present during the burial proceedings?

19 And since tomorrow you're going to follow up in your submissions, I just

20 wanted to raise this issue so that you can tackle it tomorrow.

21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: It's called a question on notice.

22 So, Mr. Korkmaz, how long do you think you reasonably need to do

23 justice to your submissions tomorrow?

24 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Perhaps two hours.

25 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. You've presented your evidence --

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 96/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Submissions by the Legal Representative for Victims (Open Session) Page 96

1 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Minimum.

2 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. Most of the Prosecution's submissions

3 today were in presenting the evidence. I think Mr. Cameron was

4 relatively brief in summing up. You've been relatively brief in

5 presenting your evidence, but you say you're going to be much, much

6 longer in making submissions. Have I got that right?

7 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Yes, Your Honour.

8 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And will it just be you speaking or will

9 co-counsel say something as well?

10 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Rest assured it will be me alone.

11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And do any other counsel have anything they

12 wish to submit or add? No, it appears not.

13 MR. COURCELLE-LABROUSSE: [Interpretation] Not for the time being

14 as far as I'm concerned, Your Honour.

15 MR. KORKMAZ: [Interpretation] Your Honour, so that the Defence

16 has the last word about the death certificate. It was said to you a

17 moment ago that Jerbo case law is unambiguous. The death certificate is

18 not an essential sine qua condition to prove somebody's demise. Many

19 people's death have never been elucidated. It's not because you don't

20 know the cause of death, that the person didn't die.

21 So I refer you back to Lebanese law, the text, Article 30 that I

22 made mention of earlier on. This article says that the death certificate

23 is drawn up on the basis of statements made by the closest relatives of

24 the deceased person. The death announcement was made by the family. We

25 saw exhaustively not only death certificates but death certificates, in

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 97/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 97

1 the plural, and if you like, they were stated orally, and it was seen

2 that the closest relatives of Mr. Badreddine, namely his brothers, were

3 in attendance behind the tomb. They expressed their misery, they

4 received condolences. I think Article 30 has been properly satisfied.

5 And now, it goes to the Mokhtar, maybe to the prefect or subprefect, to

6 draw up the death certificate for administrative purposes so that his

7 death appears in the civil registry records. No more, no less. And, of

8 course, the Tribunal which has heard material going to the proof of the

9 death of Mr. Badreddine, this material has been laid before your

10 sovereign Chamber to enable you to come to final determination to decide

11 whether the appropriate evidence has been provided to you.

12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I note -- thank you, Mr. Korkmaz. We'll

13 hear from you tomorrow.

14 I note today is the last day of May, the 31st of May, and it's

15 the last day Mr. Eugene O'Sullivan is assigned to represent Mr. Ayyash in

16 the proceedings. He's not present in the court, but the Chamber would

17 like to thank Mr. O'Sullivan for his work over the last few years in

18 representing Mr. Ayyash. He's done so very tenaciously. Mr. O'Sullivan

19 is lead counsel for Mr. Ayyash. He's one of the most experienced and

20 respected Defence counsel practicing in international law and has been

21 doing since the inception of the International Criminal Tribunal for the

22 former Yugoslavia, over 20 years ago. The Chamber has experienced

23 Mr. O'Sullivan as extremely professional, and he has always forcefully

24 but politely defended the interests of whoever he's represented.

25 Mr. Roux, the head of the Defence Office, last week revoked

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20160531_STL-11-01_T_T269_OFF_PUB_EN 98/98

PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 98

1 Mr. O'Sullivan's appointment after consultation with the Chamber upon

2 Mr. O'Sullivan's request. Mr. O'Sullivan is moving on to greener

3 pastures, as we say. So we farewell him on his last day of his

4 assignment. Please pass on our regards to him, Mr. Aoun, and

5 congratulations to you on your elevation to lead counsel, and to

6 Mr. Mair, who was here earlier, to his elevation for co-counsel for

7 Mr. Ayyash.

8 Is there anything that anyone wishes to say before we adjourn?

9 The Chamber is adjourned.

10 --- Whereupon the hearing adjourned at 4.27 p.m.

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic.