My Lord, again I tried to put it as shortly as possible because I didn’t want to occupy too much time, but I tried to correct them and describe those which seemed of greatest importance.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know why this matter of the admissibility of these documents hasn’t been argued before. In the other cases with which we have dealt, the question of the admissibility has been dealt with first of all by your offering your criticisms and objections, and then the defendant’s counsel’s being heard in reply. Then the Tribunal has ruled.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: My Lord, as I understand the position, we did put in objections to the documents and Dr. Kranzbühler suggested that he would very much prefer the documents to be translated and the objections taken at a later stage. And I was certainly informed that the Tribunal agreed with that and ordered the document to be translated.
THE PRESIDENT: That may be, for the purposes of translation. But that doesn’t mean that they are necessarily admissible. And in most of the other cases, if not all, as you will remember, we have had an argument in open session in which you, or one other member of the Prosecution, have made your objections, and then the defendant’s counsel has replied to those objections.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: My Lord, Dr. Kranzbühler has just handed—yes...
The ruling is:
“The Tribunal has ruled that the documents mentioned in your application may be translated, but that the question of their admissibility is to be decided later.”
My Lord, I am afraid I am at fault there. It didn’t occur to me, if I may be quite frank with the Tribunal, that I should have come before the beginning of the case Dönitz to make this argument. I am very sorry, and I must accept responsibility. I assumed, without real justification, that that meant the argument of admissibility would come at the beginning, or at some convenient time, in the case of Dönitz. I am very sorry, My Lord, and I can only express my regret.
My Lord, there is this excuse: We had three of the books on Saturday, and we only got the last one yesterday. Therefore, we really couldn’t have done it before today, even if I had thought of it.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Kranzbühler, the Tribunal considers that in view of the large number of documents to which the Prosecution objects, it will be highly inconvenient to have you answer Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe’s argument as you go through your documents; and therefore that you must answer now and deal with them in the way in which the other counsel have dealt with these objections to the admissibility of documents. Then the Tribunal will be able to consider the arguments that Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe has put forward and the arguments that you put forward in support of the documents.