THE PRESIDENT: Have you finished?
DR. KUBUSCHOK: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you wish to make any observation?
MAJOR BARRINGTON: Yes, I do, My Lord. The Tribunal has been asked to exclude this affidavit, using as a precedent the decision on Von Schuschnigg’s affidavit. I think I am correct in saying that Von Schuschnigg’s affidavit was excluded as an exception to the general rule on affidavits which the Tribunal laid down earlier the same day when Mr. Messersmith’s affidavit was accepted. Perhaps Your Lordship will allow me to read from the transcript the Tribunal’s decision on the affidavit of Messersmith.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Messersmith was in Mexico, was he not?
MAJOR BARRINGTON: That is so, My Lord; yes.
THE PRESIDENT: So that the difference between him and Schuschnigg in that regard was very considerable.
MAJOR BARRINGTON: In that regard, but what I was going to say was this, My Lord: In ruling on Messersmith’s affidavit Your Lordship said:
“In view of those provisions”—that is Article 19 of the Charter—“the Tribunal holds that affidavits can be presented and that in the present case it is a proper course. The question of the probative value of the affidavit as compared with the witness who has been cross-examined would, of course, be considered by the Tribunal, and if at a later stage the Tribunal thinks the presence of a witness is of extreme importance, the matter can be reconsidered.”
And Your Lordship added: