. NMT03-T0954
Volume III · Page 954
| VII. OPINION AND JUDGMENT |
| Military Tribunal III was established on 14
February 1947 under General Order No. 11, issued by command of the United
States Military Governor for Germany. The indictment was filed with the
Secretary General of Military Tribunals on 4 January 1947, and the case was
assigned to Tribunal III for trial. A copy of the indictment in the German
language was served upon each defendant at least 30 days before the
commencement of the trial. The defendants were arraigned on 17 February 1947,
each defendant entering a plea of "not guilty" to all charges preferred against
him. German counsel selected by the defendants were approved by the Tribunal
and have represented the respective defendants throughout the trial.
The presentation of evidence in support of the charges was commenced on 6 March 1947 and was followed by evidence for the defendants. The taking of evidence was concluded on 13 October 1947. Copies of the exhibits tendered by the prosecution were furnished in the German language to the defendants prior to the time of the reception of the exhibits in evidence. The Tribunal has heard the oral testimony of 138 witnesses. In addition it has received 641 documentary exhibits for the prosecution and 1,452 for defendants, many of them of considerable length. Some affidavits have been presented by the prosecution, but they are few in comparison with the hundreds offered by the defense. Whenever possible, and in substantially all cases, applications of defense counsel for the production in open court of persons who had made affidavits in support of the prosecution have been granted and the affiants have appeared for cross-examination. Affiants for the defense were cross-examined orally by the prosecution in comparatively few cases. The defendant Carl Westphal died before the commencement of the trial. On 22 August 1947, the Tribunal entered an order declaring a mistrial as to the defendant, Karl Engert, who has been able to attend court for only 2 days since 5 March 1947. The action was rendered necessary under the provisions of article IV (d) of Military Government Ordinance No. 7, and by reason of the serious and continuing illness of said defendant. The trial was conducted in two languages with simultaneous translations of German into English and English into German throughout the proceedings. |
