20150504_STL-11-01_T_T146_OFF_PUB_EN 1/104 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 Monday, 4 May 2015 - [Trial Hearing] 9 [Open Session] 10 --- Upon commencing at 10.06 a.m. 11 THE REGISTRAR: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is sitting in an 12 open session in the case of the Prosecutor versus Ayyash, Badreddine, 13 Merhi, Oneissi, and Sabra, case number STL-11-01. 14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Good morning to everyone. This week we are 15 sitting to hear the evidence of Mr. Walid Jumblatt. Before we call the 16 witness into court, I'll take appearances starting with the Prosecution. 17 Good morning, Mr. Cameron. 18 MR. CAMERON: Good morning, Your Honour. It's Graeme Cameron for 19 the Prosecution assisted by Ms. Skye Winner. 20 MS. ABDELSATER-ABUSAMRA: Good morning, Your Honour. 21 Nada Abdelsater-Abusamra for the Legal Representative for the Victims 22 assisted by Kiat Wei Ng. Thank you. 23 MR. AOUN: Mr. President, Your Honours, good morning. Good 24 morning everyone in and around the courtroom. For today Thomas Hannis 25 and Emile Aoun and we represent the interests of Mr. Salim Ayyash. Thank Monday, 04 May 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150504_STL-11-01_T_T146_OFF_PUB_EN 2/104 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters: (Open Session) Page 2 1 you. 2 MR. EDWARDS: Good morning, Your Honour. Iain Edwards together 3 with Pauline Baranes representing the interests of Mustafa Badreddine. 4 MR. HASSAN: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour, 5 honourable Chamber, I am Yasser Hassan. I represent the interests of 6 Mr. Oneissi and I'm accompanied by Mr. Amine Abed Ali. 7 MR. ROBERTS: Good morning, Your Honours, Geoff Roberts on behalf 8 of Mr. Sabra. 9 MR. AOUINI: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour, 10 honourable Chamber, I am Mohamed Aouini. I'm accompanied by 11 Mr. Hedi Aouini. We represent the interests of Mr. Hassan Habib Merhi. 12 Thank you. 13 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Good morning to you all and I note also the 14 presence of three representatives of the Defence Office who are seated in 15 the body of the courtroom. 16 Mr. Cameron, can you please give us an outline of the anticipated 17 evidence of Mr. Jumblatt. 18 MR. CAMERON: Thank you. Mr. Walid Jumblatt has been a figure of 19 considerable significance and force in Lebanese politics for many 20 decades. He was a friend, confidant, and most particularly ally of the 21 late Prime Minister Hariri. Mr. Jumblatt is uniquely positioned to 22 describe for the Trial Chamber the background leading up to the events of 23 late August and early September 2004 and the circumstances surrounding 24 the amendment to the Lebanese Constitution permitting the extension of 25 President Lahoud's term of office, the adoption of Resolution 1559 by the Monday, 04 May 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150504_STL-11-01_T_T146_OFF_PUB_EN 3/104 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters: (Open Session) Page 3 1 United Nations Security Council, and the withdrawal shortly thereafter of 2 Mr. Jumblatt's support for the government. Mr. Jumblatt will also be 3 able to describe the development of the various alliances which coalesced 4 into what became known as the Bristol Group, what the group's positions 5 were, how those positions were expressed in public by particular members, 6 including himself, and what Prime Minister Hariri's alliance with the 7 Bristol Group meant in respect of the May 2005 elections. By early 2005 8 Mr. Jumblatt and Mr. Hariri in their discussions both accepted the 9 understanding that their joint goals would inevitably lead to the 10 assassination of one or the other of them. That fate befell Mr. Hariri 11 and the same fate has led Mr. Jumblatt to appear before you today. 12 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you for that, Mr. Cameron, most 13 helpful. 14 Can you please bring the witness in. 15 Mr. Edwards. 16 MR. EDWARDS: Yes. 17 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I note -- you said that Mr. Korkmaz was 18 going to be responsible for questioning or cross-examining Mr. Jumblatt, 19 but we're happy to see you here. 20 MR. EDWARDS: Yes, Your Honour. Mr. Korkmaz will be joining us 21 from tomorrow morning. I'm simply holding the fort for today. 22 [The witness entered court] 23 MR. EDWARDS: I rise because it hasn't passed without 24 recognition, as it were, that we haven't received any proofing notes from 25 the Prosecution. And the Defence bar, and perhaps the Court also, might Monday, 04 May 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150504_STL-11-01_T_T146_OFF_PUB_EN 4/104 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters: (Open Session) Page 4 1 be interested in confirmation that, indeed, there are no proofing notes. 2 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Okay. We'll come to that in a moment. 3 Can I just, first of all, Mr. Jumblatt, good morning and welcome 4 to the proceedings. Can you please take the solemn declaration? 5 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will 6 speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 7 WITNESS: WALID JUMBLATT 8 [Witness answered through interpreter] 9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Before we start, Mr. Jumblatt, we just have 10 to deal with an administrative matter which has just arisen, so if you 11 could just stay put for one moment. 12 Mr. Cameron, are there any notes that need to be disclosed? 13 MR. CAMERON: I'm surprised by my friend's statement. There are 14 no notes that need to be disclosed; if there were, they would have been 15 disclosed. And he can assume in all cases, I think, that if there were 16 utterances made by Mr. Jumblatt to investigators that required disclosure 17 to the Defence, as in all past cases, they would have been disclosed to 18 the Defence. 19 In this case I can advise you that Mr. Jumblatt is not operating 20 at a hundred per cent capacity in terms of health, and there was a very 21 brief meeting yesterday with him particularly in respect of that regard, 22 and it may be that throughout the course of the day he will ask to have 23 more frequent breaks in order to accommodate his physical circumstances. 24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: All right. Mr. Jumblatt, before we start 25 the questioning I just need to get some personal details from you. I Monday, 04 May 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150504_STL-11-01_T_T146_OFF_PUB_EN 5/104 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Walid Jumblatt PRH-684 (Open Session) Page 5 Examination by Mr. Cameron 1 just need you to confirm that these are correct; that is, your name is 2 Walid Jumblatt, born in Beirut in 1949, you are a Lebanese citizen, and 3 your current occupation is leader of the Progressive Socialist Party and 4 a member of the Lebanese Parliament. If those details are correct, can 5 you just say so, please. 6 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, that is correct. 7 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And just one other small administrative 8 reminder, especially to someone like yourself who we know speaks Arabic, 9 French, and English, the three languages of the Tribunal. You can see a 10 small monitor there on your left which has a transcript. I just ask you 11 to glance at it and just follow the words. When they stop, that's when 12 you can talk. And please just remember that if someone -- if you're 13 answering the same language that someone's speaking to you, please pause 14 to allow the court reporter, who's sitting in the corner over there and 15 the interpreters who are in the booths to capture everything you and the 16 other speak say. 17 Mr. Cameron will now ask you questions. 18 Examination by Mr. Cameron: 19 Q. Good morning, Mr. Jumblatt. 20 A. Good morning. 21 Q. I'm going to, in a very brief way, take you through some of your 22 background before asking you some different kinds of questions. I 23 understand that you graduated from the American University of Beirut with 24 a bachelor's degree in political science and public administration and 25 that you began your working life in Lebanon as a journalist for An-Nahar Monday, 04 May 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150504_STL-11-01_T_T146_OFF_PUB_EN 6/104 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Walid Jumblatt PRH-684 (Open Session) Page 6 Examination by Mr. Cameron 1 Newspaper; is that correct? 2 A. That is correct. 3 Q. And you are presently the leader of the Progressive Socialist 4 Party. Prior -- sorry, go ahead. 5 A. I was elected as the leader of that party after the death of my 6 father in 1977. After the murder of my father in 1977, I was elected to 7 head this party. 8 Q. And I understand that that was quite shortly after, about six 9 weeks, so you have been the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party 10 since the 1st of May, 1977; is that correct? 11 A.