20150316_STL-11-01_T_T128_OFF_PUB_EN 1/73 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, 16 March 2015 - [Trial Hearing] 9 [Open Session] 10 --- Upon commencing at 10.40 a.m. 11 THE REGISTRAR: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is sitting in an 12 open session in the case of the Prosecutor versus Ayyash, Badreddine, 13 Merhi, Oneissi, and Sabra, case number STL-11-01. 14 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Good morning to everyone. We are sitting 15 today to hear the evidence of Mr. Bassem El-Sabeh, but first let's take 16 the appearances starting with the Prosecution. Good morning to you, 17 Mr. Cameron. 18 MR. CAMERON: Good morning, Your Honour. It's Graeme Cameron for 19 the Prosecution today, assisted by Ms. Tanja Zekaj. 20 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And for the Legal Representative for the 21 Victims. 22 MR. HAYNES: Good morning, Your Honour. Peter Haynes and 23 Mohammad Mattar for the participating victims, assisted by Kinga Tibori. 24 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And the Defence. 25 MR. AOUN: Mr. President, Your Honours, good morning. Good Monday, 16 March 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150316_STL-11-01_T_T128_OFF_PUB_EN 2/73 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 2 1 morning, everyone. For today myself, Emile Aoun, and I represent the 2 interests of Mr. Salim Ayyash. Thank you. 3 MR. JONES: Good morning, Your Honours. John Jones with 4 Sarah Codde representing the interests of Mr. Badreddine. 5 MR. LAROCHELLE: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour. Good 6 morning, members of the Bench. Philippe Larochelle to represent the 7 interests of Mr. Oneissi. 8 MR. METTRAUX: Good morning, Mr. President. Good morning, 9 Your Honours. Mr. Mettraux for Mr. Sabra, together with Julien Maton and 10 Bettina Spilker. 11 MR. AOUINI: [Interpretation] Good morning, Your Honour, 12 honourable members of the Bench. Mohamed Aouini and I'm assisted today 13 by Mr. Hedi Aouini, and we represent the interests of Mr. Merhi. Thank 14 you. 15 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: And I note also the presence of two 16 representatives of the Defence Office seated in the body of the court. 17 We have started about 40 minutes late today. We had some 18 technical issues concerning the transmission and recording of the 19 proceedings and we weren't able to commence until that had been resolved. 20 That's the reason for the delay this morning. 21 Mr. Cameron, can you please give us an indication of a road map 22 where you're going with this witness. 23 MR. CAMERON: Yes. Thank you, Your Honour. Mr. El-Sabeh was a 24 long-time friend, confidant, and political ally of the late Prime 25 Minister. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies and was first Monday, 16 March 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150316_STL-11-01_T_T128_OFF_PUB_EN 3/73 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 3 1 elected in Parliament in 1992 and thereafter in 1996, 2000, and 2005. 2 And he also became a member of the Council of Ministers in 1996. 3 Mr. Sabeh can describe the Prime Minister's relationship with many 4 individuals and groups over the period from the early 1990s until the 5 Prime Minister's death in 2005 -- 6 [The witness entered court] 7 MR. CAMERON: -- including his changing relationship with Syrian 8 officials -- 9 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Good morning to you, Mr. El-Sabeh. We will 10 be with you in a moment. 11 MR. CAMERON: Including his relationship with Syrian officials, 12 with President Bashar Al-Assad, Rustom Ghazaleh, Ghazi Kanaan, and 13 others. Mr. El-Sabeh accompanied the Prime Minister to and from Damascus 14 in December 2003, when he met with President Bashar Al-Assad and the 15 three Syrian intelligence officers, including Rustom Ghazaleh and 16 Ghazi Kanaan. And he can describe what the Prime Minister said about 17 that meeting on the drive back to Beirut and thereafter. He can also 18 describe his efforts to arrange for a follow-up meeting with Syrian 19 officials shortly thereafter in Damascus. 20 Mr. El-Sabeh was one of the four men with whom the Prime Minister 21 met in the garden in the house of Walid Jumblatt following his return 22 from Damascus after the 26th of August, 2005 [sic], meeting between the 23 Prime Minister and President Bashar Al-Assad. Most significantly, 24 Mr. El-Sabeh attended each of the three Bristol Group meetings on the 25 22nd of September, the 13th of December, 2004, and the 2nd of February, Monday, 16 March 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150316_STL-11-01_T_T128_OFF_PUB_EN 4/73 PUBLIC Official Transcript Procedural Matters (Open Session) Page 4 1 2005, and can describe the developing ideas and the eventual consensus 2 which emerged from the Bristol Group participants over that four and a 3 half month period. 4 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Exhibit-wise, Mr. Cameron? 5 MR. CAMERON: I'll be showing some press reviews, some press 6 releases, and short excerpts from the video-clips of the three Bristol 7 Group meetings to Mr. Sabeh. In addition, there is also a video-clip 8 with a short accompanying transcript of a meeting held between Prime 9 Minister Hariri and Archbishop Matar on the 10th of February, 2005. 10 That completes my general overview, if that's convenient. 11 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you for that, Mr. Cameron. 12 Mr. El-Sabeh, good morning again. Can you please take the solemn 13 declaration. 14 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] I solemnly declare that I will 15 speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 16 WITNESS: BASSEM EL-SABEH 17 [Witness answered through interpreter] 18 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: The transcript says August 2005. We think 19 you probably meant 2004, that's at page 3, line 23. 20 MR. CAMERON: Yes. Thank you. 21 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: We'd like to welcome you to the proceedings, 22 Mr. El-Sabeh, and I hope I'm pronouncing your name correctly, I've been 23 practicing it. Judge Braidy has been helping me but sometimes I have 24 difficulties. I just want to get the following details from you and just 25 tell me, please, if they're correct, and then Mr. Cameron will ask you Monday, 16 March 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150316_STL-11-01_T_T128_OFF_PUB_EN 5/73 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Bassem El-Sabeh –PRH042 (Open Session) Page 5 Procedural Matters 1 some questions. 2 Your name is Bassem El-Sabeh. You were born in 1951 in Beirut. 3 You are Lebanese by nationality, and you are a former Member of 4 Parliament and a former journalist. If those details are correct, can 5 you please just say "yes," and can you tell us your current occupation as 6 well. 7 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Yes, that's right. And right now I 8 do not have a current occupation, but politically I'm the deputy 9 president of the Future Movement. 10 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: I'm sure to some they would see that as a 11 full-time occupation. Mr. Cameron's going to ask you a number of 12 questions. We understand that you have some -- you do understand some 13 English. If you just look to your left there, you'll see a transcript on 14 a screen. What I'd just like you to do is to watch the words and when 15 they stop, that's when you can speak because we're -- we have a court 16 reporter, if you could just look to the corner over here to the court 17 reporter and we have interpreters in the booths up there, so it's quite 18 important they interpret and our court reporter writes down what you say. 19 But if you look at the transcript, when she stops typing or entering, 20 that means you can speak. So can you just give a few seconds between the 21 question you hear and the answer you give. So thank you for that. 22 Mr. Cameron. 23 MR. CAMERON: Thank you, Your Honour. 24 Examination by Mr. Cameron: 25 Q. Mr. El-Sabeh, I gather that you began your professional life as a Monday, 16 March 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150316_STL-11-01_T_T128_OFF_PUB_EN 6/73 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Bassem El-Sabeh –PRH042 (Open Session) Page 6 Examination by Mr. Cameron 1 journalist back in 1974; is that correct? 2 A. That's right. 3 Q. And at that time you worked for As-Safir Newspaper and in fact 4 you were one of the founders of that newspaper; is that right? 5 A. That's right. 6 Q. And you worked as a journalist from 1974 to 1990, at which time 7 you left to pursue other interests; is that right? 8 A. That's right. 9 Q. And I gather that through the 1980s until 1990, you were the 10 editor-in-chief of the paper and had a daily column which specialized in 11 political articles; is that correct? 12 A.