THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal requires your assistance upon that
interpretation, as to whether this document does come under the terms of
Article 21. If you have anything to say upon that subject we will be
glad to hear it.
M. DUBOST: Mr. President, it seems to me impossible that the Tribunal
should rule out this and similar documents which I am going to present,
for all these documents bear, for authentication, not only the signature
of the French representative at this Tribunal but that of the Delegate
of the Minister of Justice to the War Crimes Commission as well. Examine
the stamp beside the second signature. It is the seal.
THE PRESIDENT: Do not go too fast; tell us where the signatures are.
M. DUBOST [_Indicating on the document._]: Here, Your Honors, is a
notation of the release of this document by the Office for Inquiry into
War Crimes to the French Prosecutor as an element of proof and below,
the signature of the Director of the Cabinet of the French Minister of
Justice, the Keeper of the Seals, and in addition, over this signature,
the seal of the Minister of Justice. You may read: “Office for Inquiry
into War Crimes.”
THE PRESIDENT: Is this the substance of the matter: That this was an
inquiry by the police into these facts; and that police inquiry was
recorded; and then the Minister of Justice, for the purposes of this
Trial, adopted that police report? Is that the substance of it?
M. DUBOST: That is correct, Mr. President. I think that we agree. The
Office for Inquiry into War Crimes in France is directly attached to the
Ministry of Justice. It carries out investigations. These investigations
are made by the police authorities, such as M. Binaud, Inspector of
Special Police, attached to the Special Commissariat of Saint Gingolph.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know when the service of
inquiry into War Crimes was established.
M. DUBOST: I cannot give you the exact date from memory, but this
service was set up in France the day after the liberation. It began to
function in October 1944.
THE PRESIDENT: Was this service established after the police report was
made?