20150116_STL-11-01_T_T108_OFF_PUB_EN 1/87 PUBLIC Official Transcript Evidentiary 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 Friday, 16 January 2015 - [Trial Hearing] 9 [Open Session] 10 --- Upon commencing at 10.07 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're going to 15 continue with the evidence of Dr. Khoury. 16 Good morning to you, Dr. Khoury, and welcome back. 17 I just note the appearances for today. Today we have Mr. Cameron 18 for the Prosecution, Mr. Mattar for the Legal Representatives of the 19 Victims, Mr. Aoun for Mr. Ayyash, Mr. Jones for Mr. Badreddine, 20 Mr. Roberts for Mr. Sabra, Mr. Larochelle for Mr. Oneissi, and Mr. Aouini 21 for Mr. Merhi. And I also see there are two representatives of the 22 Defence Office in the body of the courtroom. 23 Is there anything we need to raise before we continue with 24 Dr. Khoury's evidence, Mr. Cameron? 25 Yes, Dr. Khoury. Friday, 16 January 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150116_STL-11-01_T_T108_OFF_PUB_EN 2/87 PUBLIC Official Transcript Evidentiary Matters (Open Session) Page 2 1 THE WITNESS: [Interpretation] Your Honour, during my statement 2 yesterday, my testimony yesterday, there was a mistake and I would like 3 to seek correction. It was regarding the mechanism to elect a president 4 in Lebanon. I said that Article 49 of the constitution stipulates that 5 the election of the president is by secret ballot and this is true. 6 However, when we were discussing the amendment of the constitution or the 7 renewal or extension of the presidential term of Mr. Lahoud, back then 8 the Syrian and the Lebanese officials decided to step aside from the 9 secret ballot. They did not want to elect a new president. And second, 10 they did not want also to re-elect President Emile Lahoud. They decided 11 that it was possible to amend the constitution by a show of hands. So 12 they amended the part pertaining to the term of the president in 13 Article 49 and they said that this amendment will be endorsed 14 exceptionally for one time and this was adopted by a show of hands and 15 not by a secret ballot. So I wanted to clarify this. The amendment of 16 the constitution can be done by a show of hands, but the election of the 17 president should be done by secret ballot. This was not clear yesterday 18 and I apologize. At the end of the day, I'm a physician, a surgeon, I'm 19 not a lawyer or a judge, so maybe this was not very clear to me as well. 20 PRESIDING JUDGE RE: Thank you for the clarification. And you'll 21 know when you next return to Parliament to amend the constitution the 22 various ways in which it can be done. Thank you, Dr. Khoury. 23 Mr. Cameron. 24 WITNESS: GHATTAS EL-KHOURY [Resumed] 25 [Witness answered through interpreter] Friday, 16 January 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150116_STL-11-01_T_T108_OFF_PUB_EN 3/87 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Ghattas El-Khoury –PRH242 (Resumed) (Open Session) Page 3 Examination by Mr. Cameron (Continued) 1 Examination by Mr. Cameron: [Continued] 2 Q. Good morning, Dr. Khoury. Your remarks are apposite because my 3 first questions were to bring to your attention the text of the Lebanese 4 Constitution and perhaps I can very briefly in light of Judge Akoum's 5 question yesterday and his point. 6 MR. CAMERON: The Lebanese Constitution has now been added to the 7 presentation queue and appears at positions 12 and 13, 12 being the 8 English version, 13 the Arabic version. And I think the relevant text is 9 in Article 49, which -- of the Lebanese Constitution which is admitted as 10 Exhibit P305 in these proceedings earlier. And the ERN page that I wish 11 to take Dr. Khoury to is D0407526. If that could be displayed for 12 Dr. Khoury. Oh, the presentation queue 28 and 29, I do apologize. It's 13 page 12 in the English version, page 13 in the Arabic version. 14 Q. Dr. Khoury, I'll just read the first two sections of Article 49 15 for clarity, if I may. 16 "The President of the Republic is the head of state and the 17 symbol of the nation's unity. He shall safe-guard the constitution and 18 Lebanon's independence, unity, and territorial integrity. The president 19 shall preside over the Supreme Defence Council and be the 20 Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces which fall under the authority of 21 the Council of Ministers. 22 "The President of the Republic shall be elected by secret ballot 23 and by a two-thirds majority of the Chamber of Deputies. After a first 24 ballot, an absolute majority shall be sufficient. The President's term 25 is six years. He may not be re-elected until six years after the Friday, 16 January 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150116_STL-11-01_T_T108_OFF_PUB_EN 4/87 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Ghattas El-Khoury –PRH242 (Resumed) (Open Session) Page 4 Examination by Mr. Cameron (Continued) 1 expiration of his last mandate. No one may be elected to the Presidency 2 of the Republic unless he fulfils the conditions of eligibility for the 3 Chamber of Deputies." 4 Is that the passage to which you were referring to yesterday? 5 A. Yes, that is correct when it comes to the president of the 6 republic and this is what I mentioned yesterday; however, my correction 7 today was regarding the mechanism to amend the constitution. 8 Q. But when you arrived at Parliament that day, did you expect the 9 manner in which the vote would be taken would be similar to the election 10 of the president, that is, by secret ballot and not by a show of hands? 11 A. In fact, the cabinet had sent a draft proposal to amend the 12 constitution and we knew prior to the parliamentary session that the vote 13 would be by a show of hands. 14 Q. And among those who intended to vote against the constitution -- 15 the constitutional amendment, did you have any discussions or -- about 16 your concerns about a show of hands? 17 A. If you go back to the minutes of that parliamentary session, at 18 the beginning of the session some of the deputies addressed the 19 Parliament, namely, those who were opposed to the amendment. I name 20 MP Boutros Harb who is a constitutional lawyer, and he was opposed to the 21 manner adopted in order to amend the constitution, and his opposition to 22 this mechanism or procedure was expressed and voiced in front of everyone 23 prior to the vote. 24 Q. Now, one of our last topics that we were speaking about yesterday 25 was the resignation of the Prime Minister on the 20th of October, 2004. Friday, 16 January 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication. Only the original speech is authentic. 20150116_STL-11-01_T_T108_OFF_PUB_EN 5/87 PUBLIC Official Transcript Witness: Ghattas El-Khoury –PRH242 (Resumed) (Open Session) Page 5 Examination by Mr. Cameron (Continued) 1 And during the course of that, you had described certain events that had 2 occurred around the confirmation of the Prime Minister in 2003 and the 3 number of ministers that he was able to secure in his cabinet. Do you 4 recall that? And near the end of the day we had spoken about the 5 telephone call that you had received from Rustom Ghazaleh, wherein you 6 had on a television show voiced concerns about the legitimacy of the 7 number of ministers in that particular cabinet that were associated with 8 the Prime Minister. Do I have that correct? 9 A. Yes, that is correct. 10 Q. And I think that the reason that you offered the testimony about 11 2003 was in support of the understanding that the Prime Minister did not 12 want a repeat of 2003 in 2004, particularly during his negotiations to 13 see if he could fashion together a government in the latter stages of 14 2004; is that right? 15 A. Yes, that is correct. And I would like to clarify that. When I 16 mentioned that in the year 2003 we were not satisfied with the way the 17 cabinet was formed, the number of ministers, and the mechanisms to form a 18 cabinet, this was not a personal opinion. This was my personal opinion, 19 the opinion of the Prime Minister. However, the Prime Minister back then 20 decided to stay silent and did not address the media to tackle this 21 issue. It was the position endorsed by Prime Minister Hariri; however, 22 we voiced this position in various manners. In 2004 he knew that what 23 happened in 2003 will be repeated and wanted to prevent himself from 24 going through such a hard experience once again, and this is why he 25 decided to apologize and to say that he's not ready to form a new Friday, 16 January 2015 STL-11-01 Interpretation serves to facilitate communication.