And then there is further recital with reference to that. And the last, the next paragraph on Page 5, gives the list of the witnesses. I think then we can turn over to Page 8.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: I think we'll take the usual recess at this time.
(THE TRIBUNAL RECESSED AT 1100)
THE MARSHAL: The persons in the Courtroom will be seated.
The Tribunal is again in session.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: You may proceed, Mr. Denney.
MR. DENNEY: May it please your Honors, this starts at the top of page 8 in the English. I am sorry I don't have the German page. However it is -- I guess I can find it. It seems to be on German page 9.
"Where is is accepted internationally that some restrictions should be observed in the attitude toward the population of the occupied country. Though it is true that the war crippling the resistance of the enemy yet the belligerents do not have an unrestricted right with respect to the choice of means whereby damage is to be done to the enemy, as is formally stated in art. 22 of the Hague agreement to which Germany has acceded. In instances, where no provision is made by International treaties, the population remains under the protection of the general principles of International Law as they emanate from their international customs, from the Laws of humanity and the demands of public conscience, as is stated in the preamble of the Hague Convention. But art. 46 of this agreement declares that life and property of the population should be spared. And though these were no sanctions provided by international treaties, except by the Treaty of Washington of Feb. 6, 1922, yet it is in accordance with an expressed international conscience and with the spirit of Justice that the transgression of the fundamental principles of humanity should not remain without punishment. It follows from the above that in so far as such transgressions come under the heading of crimes as provided by the Penal Codes of civilized countries, transgressors can be subjected to trial on the basis of the local laws of the country in the territory of which he is found, which determines establishment of competent Tribunals and their procedure.
they are then considered as having violated the common Penal Code and simultaneously by virtue of their deeds as having transgressed the rules of International Law."-- Then a reference to Art. 3 of the Treaty of Washington -- "Besides this the declaration of the United Nations of Jan. 13, 1942 specifies that transgressors of the Rules of International Law will be punished by the Organs of International Justice. This declaration is a principle of justice, at least, as regards the competence of the Courts of the countries occupied by the Axis forces.
Whereas it is contended that the defendants have committed in Greece, contrary to the International Law, acts punishable by our Criminal Cone, they fall under the jurisdiction of the Greek Courts in accordance with art. 1 of the Penal Procedure which states that the Greek Criminal Courts are competent to judge all crimes committed in Greece either by Greek, or by foreigners.
Whereas the defendants Braeuer and Mueller Generals of the German Army have served as military commanders in Crete (Greece) during different times of the period 1941-1945 when Greece was in a state of war with Germany and occupied by its forces, and the crimes they are charged with, of murder, terrorism etc. are among those acts which are considered as war crimes by art. I par. 2 of the Const. Act. 73, and consequently it is lawful that they should be tried by this Tribunal.
Whereas the following appears from the depositions of the witnesses and the affidavits of the witnesses who were not present, and especially from the orders and notifications of the defendants published in the newspapers "Herald of Crete" of Heraklion and "Spectator" of Chania, which were the official organs of the German Command, and from the pleas of the defendants:
"The defendant Braeuer went to Crete at the head of his regiment of Parachutists during the operations aiming at the capture of the Island(Crete) in the last days of May 1941; he did not leave Crete before 4 June 1941.
He then returned to Crete on September 1942 as Military Commander and then as Commander of the Fortress Crete, remaining there until June 1944. This late date is evident from his proclamation of June 29, 1944. Defendant Mueller went to Crete as C.O. Of the 22nd Division in Archanes (Crete) on October 1942, he was away from October 43 to January 1944 and then again from the middle of March to the beginning of June 1944. From June 25, 1944 to the end of October 1944 he was the Commander of the Fortress Crete.
Whereas in the first days of the occupation of the Island on the Hersaklion area, the German parachutist killed many (over 100) Greek civilians, among whom the names of Aschimaendrite Theodosskis and Prefect Tsatsaronakis are included. Many articles of furniture and clothing were stolen from the houses of Heraklion. Some of these crimes such as the murder of Tsatsaronakis were committed after 4 June 1941 during the absence of Braeuer and consequently he must be not held responsible for these.
As for the rest it has not been proved that they were ordered by him and therefore he is not responsible for same. The other defendant Mueller, not being in Crete at that time, bears no responsibility for these crimes. Consequently both defendants must be considered of these crimes.
1. On 5 July 1943, by order of the Commander of Fortress Crete 40 people detained in the Prisons of Heraklion, Rethymnon and Hania were shot to death. A proclamation relating to this was published by Braeuer Comm. of the Fortress of Crete, in issue 520 of the Newspaper "Spectator" of Hania.
2. On 24 August 1944, 25 persons detained in Agia Prison were shot to death.
3. On 16 September 1944, 50 persons detained in Agia Prisons were shot to death, and a proclamation relating to the incident was published in issue 940 of the Newspaper "Cretan Herald" by Braeuer.
These shootings of 5 July 1943 were ordered by Braeuer and the rest by the then Commander of Fortress of Crete, Mueller. In all three cases the shooting was ordered as reprisals for acts of sabotage against the German Army. The victims were all innocent of these acts.
4. After a fight which took place in Symia (Vianos) between German troops and the unit of Captain Badouvas on 10-12 Sept. 1943, the 67th Regt. of Mueller's Division started on Sept. 13 an enterprise against the villages of Vianos and Ierapetra areas; they surrounded the villages and on 14 Sept. and the days which followed they arrested all the inhabitants of the villages. All the arrested men were shot to death, except the 147 men arrested in the village Sycologos; a total of 471 men and few women were shot, their names were mentioned by the witnesses examined." --And then follows the names of the witnesses examined and the numbers of persons mentioned--."The remainder of the arrestees, mostly women and children were detained for some days in the Concentration Camp in Rethymnon and then were sent to other areas. At the same time the Germans took away all the cattle and whatever else they could carry and then set on fire the houses and buildings destroying them totally. The following villages were completely destroyed." And then they list the villages which were destroyed and some which were partly destroyed.
"During the burning down of the afore-mentioned villages, several women were burnt alive in their homes; these deaths could have been foreseen and prevented by the Germans. All the aforementioned enterprises and crimes were on such a big scale that they could not have been done without orders of the Commander of Fortress Crete, Braeuer admits having issued such an order and Mueller admits having suggested and executed this order.
They both pretend that this enterprise was a military one against armed forces of the resistance during which the Germans suffered 4-5 casualties, but the depositions of the witnesses and the way the enterprise was carried, exclude such a claim. With reference to this, a proclamation of the Commander of Fortress of Crete was published in the newspaper "Cretan Herald" on 5 September 1943, saying that a measure of reprisal a certain number of communities ceased to exist. This publication bears the date 12 Sept. but was published on 15 Sept. and refers to the aforementioned events, because at that time there were no other similar happenings. The publication of the proclamation at the same time that the reprisals were carried out proves that they were premeditated.
5. On 4 September 1943, ten persons were arrested by Germans in the area of the village Agios Mamas Mylopotamou and were shot to death on the spot, under the pretext that they were arrested on forbidden areas. The next day 20 persons with a priest, went to that spot to bury the murdered people; the Germans seeing them opened fire and killed them all.
6. On 3-5 May 1944 units of the 22nd Division went to the villages of Heralkion District "And then the villages are listed. "-and shot in Camares 5 men and arrested another 15, they arrested in Margaritari 11 men, in Sachtouria 28, and in Icchia they arrested 8 and shot 2. Fifteen of the arrested men were shot in September and the rest disappeared. At the same time they took away all private property and destroyed completely all the houses and buildings of the aforementioned villages by fire and explosives. A proclamation for these events was Published in the newspaper "Cretan Herald" on 6 May 1944."
At that time, Mueller was not in Crete and consequently is not responsible for these crimes. But the Tribunal is convinced that those crimes were ordered by the Commanding Officer of the 22 Dw., on Braeuer's orders, who Braeuer confesses that he had given to his Divisions a general order to act on their own initiative in cases like the present one, accepting in advance, the measures of mass executions, arrests, looting and executions of hostages which were the German system.
"On 7 May 1944 a German unit kidnapped from the village Dougi Monofatsiou, 9 men who have since disappeared.
"On 9 May 1944 a German unit kidnapped from the village Samona 3 men who have since disappeared; the village was looted and then completely destroyed by artillery fire. One child was killed. The Tribunal thinks that (these two cases, i.e., 7.8. cannot be attributed to Mueller who was absent from Crete nor to Braeuer because it was not proved that he ordered them).
"In August 1944 units belonging to the Division of the Fortress of Crete surrounded the district of Kissamos. By 27 August they arrested and shot 60 men in the village Malthyrou, 26 in Kakopetron, 19 in Palea Roumata, 11 in Kalathenes and an as yet undetermined number in the villages Kouneni -Syrikari. At the same time they set on fire the villages of the same district Limni, Elos and Floria. They burnt part of the villages Kouneni where three children were burnt alive.
"In the same month, August 1944, the German Division of Heraklion surrounded the district of Amarious, they arrested all the men they found in the villages, and they shot 46 men in the villages Gourgouthi, Kardaki, Dryges, Vrysses, Smidai, 42 in Ano Meros, 55 in Gerakari, 35 in Krya Vryssi and they deported the rest of the population to other areas.
At the same time they looted completely all the aforementioned villages and completely destroyed by fire end explosives all their fountains, buildings, houses, churches, schools, and cemeteries.
"On 17th of the same month another German unit went to the village Sokara, destroyed a large part of it and shot 27 men.
"On 13 August 1944 a strong German unit went to the village Anogia, arrested all the inhabitants who happened to be there, shot 50 men, sent the women and children to other areas and the men to prisons and then completely destroyed the 940 houses of the village. Next day they shot in the village Gergessi 18 men, and in the village Pyrgos 4.
"On 14 August 1944 another German unit shot 11 men and 20 women in the village Skourvoula.
"On 13 August 1944 another unit arrested 35 men in Sarchos, shot 15 of them, used the others for forced labor and later shot them.
"On 14-19 August another unit shot 12 persons in the village Gonjes Malerizou, 7 men in Kalesia and 4 in Moni; on 20-22 Aug. they shot 7 in Digortynow and 22 in Asteraki.
"On 21 August 1944, 34 persons were shot in Damasta and 109 houses of the village were destroyed.
"At the same time, while the German troops were retreating to the West of the Island, the village Thrapsanos was set on fire and a woman and a child were burnt alive.
"With respect to all these crimes committed on August 1944, a proclamation was published in the newspaper "Spectator" on Aug.
27, 1944. It was issued by the then Commander of Fortress Crete Mueller and stated that 489 persons were killed, 599 arrested and many thousands deported to other areas. Relative to these is the order of Mueller 13 August 44 for the destruction of Anogia, the issue of which he does not deny, saying only that he ordered the execution of 30-50 men only (this order is in the file). All these crimes of murder, arson, looting and deportation were executed by the Heraklion Divisions on the basis of orders issued by Mueller. Braeuer not being in Crete at that time is not responsible for these.
"On orders of Braeuer Commander of Fortress Crete, a unit comprising many criminals (German and Greeks) was constituted in 1943 under the orders of Warrant Officer Fritz Schubert. Schubert was ordered to pursue the criminals and search for arms. By this order Schubert was allowed to use whatever means he chose. In the Execution of this order Schubert committed murders of more than 200 men; Schubert went also to village Callikrati Sfakiou where he arrested and shot to death on 8 October 1943, 24 men and 9 women, whose named were stated by the witnesses. Braeuer, knowing the previous criminal activities of Schubert and learning of their continuation by the commission of atrocious crimes, approved and kept him in the job to which he had appointed him.
"The defendants say in their defense that they had to obey orders of the Supreme German Command whereby they were obliged to order reprisals against the non combatant population for every act against the German Army.
But mass execution of innocent people not charged with any concrete act, and the arson on masse of towns and villages, are acts which are contrary to humanitarian feelings and cannot be justified even by an order of a supreme authority; such orders could not even be considered as orders in line of duty. And what is worse, the unlawful character of these orders is proved by the fact that the recipients of these orders were advised to destroy them immediately after reading them. Besides the Court is satisfied that even if these were such general orders for applying reprisals, the defendants had the discretionary right to choose the kind of means and to determine whether or not they should be applied. But no such means were applied by the Commander of Fortress Crete, when 17 Germans were killed in Omales after a fight with the Andantes, nor when in Nescla 7 members of Schubert's unit were slain, nor when General Kreipe was kidnapped. The defendants not daring to try to justify themselves for the mass executions, suggest that all these deaths of Greek people occurred during fights between Germans and Greek resistance groups. The excuse of military necessity could be justified in case other means were applicable as reprisals, but under no conditions for the killing of innocents. It is true that the Germans in Crete felt that they were living in hostile surroundings and that it was in their interest not to be disturbed by the population in case war activities were to be extended on Cretan territory. They aimed therefore at crippling the morale of the population in order to enhance their security; therefore, they used inhuman means such as mass execution and the systematic burning down of villages thus changing whole areas into a desert.
Such means can be accepted, still less as the justification for an indirect military interest. Whereas irrespective of the question of the applicability of Const. Act 73 to the criminal acts described therein, and which are not provided for in the Criminal Code because of the rule "Nulla poena sine lege" the defendants must be acquitted with respect to the acts provided by Const. Law 73.
"Consequently Bruno Braeuer must be declared guilty for having ordered the following acts:" -- and therewith they list the various murders and shootings and burnings with the dates, the first in July 1943 and the last in September of 44, the September 44 note being the third one from the bottom, the last one being one of August.
And then, turning over to the next page, 19 in the English:
"Therefore, the Tribunal declares as guilty A. Bruno Braeuer because he served the military forces of the enemy as Lieutenant General of the German Army in Chania during the war 1939-1945 and as commander of the Fortress 'Crete,' he knowingly ordered others to commit war crimes under threats of severe punishment in case of disobedience and particularly for the following reprehensible acts which his subordinates carried out:"
And thereafter on the balance of that page and the first two numbered paragraphs on the next are the acts listed in more detail which are referred to on the prior page.
Then, over on page 20:
"Mueller, because he served the military forces of the enemy as Lieutenant-General of the German Army in Chania (Crete) during the war 1939-1945 and as commander of Fortress Crete, he knowingly ordered others to commit war crimes under threats of severe punishment, in case of disobedience, and particularly for the following acts, which his subordinates carried out."
And then they list murders and the dates and places in August and September 1944, and then on the next page is a further list of persons who were killed and continuing for August 1944, the bottom of the page, the setting on fire, by explosives, the villages, and their destruction: and on the next page are listed the villages which have to do with the third paragraph under "Mueller"; and then the 4th count which again applies with reference to Mueller: the next one which applies to to Braeuer and Mueller for the executions which are listed on the following page; and then the last paragraph on page 23 lists the confiscation of property from the villages; and the first paragraph on page 24 sets forth the further burnings and also the execution of people as a result of these burnings in the villages which are listed there.
And then follows a paragraph with reference to certain events wherein there is an acquittal:
"Since the Tribunal has doubts concerning the guilt of the defendants with respect to the rest of the criminal acts of the indictment, as described by the Penal Law, they (i.e the defendants) must be acquitted on those counts. This is especially true for the act of putting 300 Jews on board S/S 'Damae' and later or sinking it; it was not proved that Mueller or Braeuer had anything to do with this, Therefore, this act ought to be attributed to the Higher Command of the German police of Athens or Berlin.
"Whereas the acts for which the defendants were found guilty are provided for and punished" -- and then it sets forth the section and code of the Penal Law.
And then on page 25:
"After reading the decision the king's counsel asked the death penalty for both the defendants. The defense counsel asked that the minimum penalty be given to the defendants. The President then ordered the removal of the defendants from the Court Room and the Tribunal withdrew to the Council room where, having discussed in the absence of the King's Counsel, returned again in the Court Room and announced it's decision."
And then follows the findings of guilty and the sentencing to death and the publication of the decisions on 9 December 1945, signed by the President and the Clerk and certified as a true copy; and the executions of these two men took place in May 1947.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: The observation made by the Tribunal at the introduction of the previous exhibit will apply equally to the exhibit just read by counsel.
The next part of 499, which is No. 4, does not have to be read at this time. It is furnished merely for the convenience of the defense counsel and the Tribunal and has to do with the subtitles of the Greek film; and when the film is shown, of course, the subtitles will be read concurrently. However, it is offered as 499/4. We have already offered 499/5, which has been received as 499/5, and 499A6 which is an affidavit or is, rather, an interrogation of a witness at Distomo on September 25, 1955, is offered as 499/6.
The first question: "What is your name, and so forth:
"Ioannis Louca Zizis. I was born and am resident at Distomo, aged 58, farmer and Christian Orthodox.
"(He took the oath on the Holy Bible in accordance with Arts. 121 and 124 of the Penal Code)."
And then the next question and his reply:
"On June 10, 1944 I had gone, together with my two sons, to my village which lies close to the spot where the guerillas were lying in ambush. At the first shots, I took my sons and went away. My sons started together towards the seashore of Distomo without passing through Distomo, while I made my way to the village to my house. My house lies close to the village square and adjoins the house of the murdered priest; it is situated between the houses of Spiros Malamos, of the Sfunturaioi, of Lucas Sifiras and Chrestos Papanicolaou and looks towards the square at the point where the worst doings happened.
"Shortly after my reaching Distomo, there arrived from Stiri four lorries, of which one was loaded with dead and wounded Germans who were at once placed on a hospital lorry which left immediately for Livadia. Two other lorries were filled with German soldiers who as soon as they had dismounted, broke up into small parties and at once placed sentries at various points of vantage around the village. The fourth lorry contained the 12 detainees. Shortly afterwards, all the German lorries went back.
"The Germans soon after they arrived at Distomo, made the twelve hostages get out of the lorry and executed them with volleys from their automatics.
At the same time they executed Ioannis P. Sfunturis, Dimitrios Kailis and Nicolas Sfunturis who happened at that very moment to be returning from their fields. Another party of Germans arrested Ioannis Skutas, Aristides Sfunturis and Panagiotis Vassileiou whom they took to the top of the knoll and executed. These events convinced mo that a general massacre had been ordered, so I made haste to jump out of the window and hide under an elder-tree situated behind my house from which I could see both in the direction of the Malamos house and of the house of the Sfunturaioi and Sideras I had hardly had time to hide when I heard Germans coming up to the house of the priest whom they at once arrested and gouged out his eyes, after which they killed him and cut off his head. At the sight of these doings, the women and children inside the house where they had taken refuge began to weep and scream, (the Germans) fired a few volleys at after which there was silence. At the same time a second party of Germans entered the house of Spiros Malamos in which many women and children had taken refuge and killed them all. They then opened the stops of the barrels and set fire to the hayrick nearby. After that they went up to the house of Loucas Malamos, took a few clothes and set fire to the house. The fire fortunately did not spread. They then jumped over a garden wall passing quite close to me and entered the house of L. Sideras where other women were hiding and threw a hand grenade inside killing Sophia, wife of I. Anestis, and seriously wounding Anthoula, wife of Loucas Sideras. As they were coming out of the Sideras house, they met Panagiotis Marios and my nephew Nicolas Zizis and killed them. Another band of German soldiers went to the house of Charalampos Sfunturis who was ill, while his wife was hiding in the yard. They at once set fire to the house, thus obliging his wife to come out of her hiding place. They then threw her alive into the flames, thus the two occupants were burnt alive together with their house. Night was beginning to fall when I heard a voice calling upon all those who had remained alive and were still hiding to come out as the Germans had gone away.
I omitted to mention that the wife of the priest who was wounded in the arm jumped from a small window and came up to me. I bound up her wound but she was half distracted, so that we nearly gave ourselves away. After hearing the voice, I emerged cautiously from my hiding place and came out in front of my house. I found lying dead in the yard my boy Athanassios A. Kailis, aged 8 and Ioannis Papanicolaou's boy aged 6, and the priest's head with the eyes gouged out. I entered the priest's house where the bodies of the women lay one upon the other and the whole floor was covered with blood. I hastened to leave the house. On going to the square, I found it covered with the corpses of men and women who had been executed as they were returning from the fields. I went up to the house of my niece, Fotini, wife of Loucas Liaskos, whom I found with her head crushed and clothes torn, while in the cradle lay her baby disemboweled and also the corpses of her eldest child together with that of her old father-in-law. The sight of the victims so tragically massacred, horror and fear made me, despite myself, go outside the village where I remained in hiding, together with the other survivors from my village for about four months as we were afraid to return to the village.
"On June 26 1944 the Germans made a fresh inroad into the village which they found completely empty of inhabitants. On that day they took whatever they had not already taken or destroyed on the day of the massacre and their previous raids. They set fire to houses, poured out the wine, and literally pillaged everything.
"Q. Did you happen to learn the names of the Germans commanding the detachment on the day of the massacre?
"A I was informed that during the encounter at Stiri, a German called Teo was killed and that it was to revenge his death, so they say, that the German officers gave orders for the massacre of all the inhabitants and for the burning of the village which they would have completed, had they not been in a hurry to leave owing to the late hour of the day.
The names of the German officers must be known to the lawyer at Livadia, Mr. P. Karamertzanis, who at that time was employed by the Germans as interpreter.
"I have nothing else to add and I can road and write."
"(The above was read to him and is duly confirmed and signed).
"The witness" and "The Examining Lawyer" and "The Clerk of the Justice of the Peace of Distomo."
DR. LATERNSER (Counsel for defendant List): Your Honors, should the Tribunal see any connection between this document and any of the defendants, as the prosecution is trying to prove in this case, I would apply that this witness should be put in the witness box.
PRESIDING JUDGE BURKE: It is thought of the Tribunal that in the absence of more formal proof directly connecting the affidavits and other documents read that at the end of the trial, upon application by defense counsel, they will be stricken from the record.
MR. DENNEY: And the last part of the report of the Greek National War Crimes office is the one which was yesterday marked 499-A. I believe your Honors have it.
DR. LATERNSER: Your Honor, I wish to object strongly against accepting this report. These reports are similar to the ones submitted by the Yugoslavian Commission, but this case is even clearer. The Tribunal is able in connection with Article 20 of the Regulations of the Tribunal to accept them. I maintain that the reports now to be submitted are not really reports which would come under Article 20. A report is something which tries to establish facts. The report now submitted by the Prosecution, the Tribunal can see by looking into it is a mere Prosecution indictment, something which is maintained but should be proved. If the Tribunal would be in a position to accept this as evidence, then, for example, the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes could simply submit reports which would then become evidence. If this report could be accepted as evidence the procedure would become improvised, so it does not concern a report but an indictment, the contents of which have to be proved first. But even if the Tribunal holds the opinion that Article 20 could be applied, the application of Article 20 would not apply owing to Article 20 itself.
(Int. Hildesheimer) According to Article 20 the Tribunal may accept Governmental documents or reports to the United Nations, Furthermore it may accept reports submitted before to a Commission of councillors or to an appointed party of councillors of the U.N. for the investigation of War Crimes.
As becomes evident from this report, however, this report or statement can only be made during the proceedings itself, because on page 9 of the report and on page 14 this Tribunal is being talked about. It is therefore not a report which has been examined by an inquiry commission, or at least before this trial within the framework of the United Nations.
It is not a report which has been submitted before to a commission appointed by the United Nations. From this report it becomes evident that the prosecution's statement cannot be accepted as probative material, but merely and exclusively as a document of the Prosecution if it proves their contention. If, however, the Tribunal is going to accept this report then I, as defense counsel, shall apply for more material and documents in order to object to the content of this material.
Your Honor, I am just being told by one of my colleagues that possibly I have not been understood correctly, partly because I perhaps was not clear and possibly because the translator did not follow.
JUDGE BURKE: There appears to be no ambiguity in your statement, Dr. Laternser.
Since his appears to be a matter of some importance, and doubtless Mr. Denney may desire to make some suggestions about it, and the Tribunal desires to make a just and proper ruling, we will take a recess at this time until 1:30 p.m., and at that time if you wish to make any further comments about the matter, Mr. Denney, you may do so, and the Tribunal will then make its decision.
(Thereupon a recess was taken until 1:30)
AFTERNOON SESSION
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
JUDGE BURKE: Without the necessity of further discussion the Tribunal is prepared to rule upon the matter submitted at the close of the morning session.
The Tribunal has given consideration to the objection made by defense counsel to the admission of Exhibit 499-A. It is our opinion that in its present form the offered exhibit falls far short of the essential qualification to justify its admission for any purpose of probative value. It moreover offends against all properly recognized rules for the admission of evidence, in that it assumes to indicate responsibility on the part of various individuals involved in the hearing now in progress, and such findings, conclusions and presumptions having been made not in the presence of the interested defendants.
With this definite statement of the attitude of the Tribunal as to the competence of the Exhibit it may be admitted for what, if anything, it is worth.
You may proceed, Mr. Denney.
THE PRESIDENT: Before we proceed further, Mr. Denney, at the time Court convened there were two of the German counsel present, and now five of the 11 are present. Possibly there is a good reason or excuse for the absence of the other counsel. The Tribunal feels that it has some responsibility in connection with this matter. Purely by way of suggestion at this present moment we respectfully call the attention of the counsel that Court convenes usually at the time stated, and that they should be present, at least for the interest of their clients if not out of respect to the Tribunal.
JUDGE BURKE: You may proceed, Mr. Denney.