Opinion ID: 445617
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The deposition witnesses' testimony.

Text: 43 Nine of the government witnesses testified through deposition testimony taken in the Soviet Union: Edgars Andreivich Rode, Janis Edvardovich Engelis, Carlis Smekerstans, Nikolays Aleksandrs Endelis, Karlis Augustovitch Zvirgzds, Vladimar Alexandrovich Striguns, Janis Otto Ignats, Juris Ansis Beikmanis and Edgars Christianovich Salminsh. 44 While admitting the deposition testimony of the government witnesses, the IJ was greatly troubled by the procedures through which the depositions were procured. First, the IJ noted that in the pre-hearing statements of three of the deposition witnesses, the presiding Soviet officer referred to the matter as the case of the Nazi war criminal Laipenieks. The IJ also observed that during the actual taking of the depositions, the Soviet Procurator, in the presence of the witnesses, continually referred to the matter as the war criminal case or the Nazi criminal Laipenieks case. The IJ found that the prejudicial and highly suggestive language used by the Soviet official tainted the deposition proceedings. 45 The IJ also found that the Soviet officer frequently and sharply curtailed defense counsel's opportunity to cross-examine the deposition witnesses. The IJ determined that the cross-examination restrictions placed on Laipenieks' counsel limited the opportunity to expose faults in the memory and perception of the Soviet witnesses and to highlight the intimidating atmosphere in which the witnesses were deposed. In light of the prejudicial statements made by the Soviet Procurator and the limitations placed on cross-examination of the Soviet government witnesses, the IJ felt it necessary to discount the deposition testimony. 46 Other courts have been skeptical of the trustworthiness of similar deposition testimony. For example, in United States v. Kungys, 571 F.Supp. 1104 (D.N.J.1983), appeal docketed, No. 83-5884 (3rd Cir. Dec. 7, 1983), much of the government's case against the defendant involved deposition testimony obtained in the Soviet Union. The district court found that the depositions were taken under such circumstances as to undermine seriously their credibility. Id. at 1123. In its comprehensive discussion of the problems involved with such testimony, the court first noted that the prosecution of the case resulted from an unusual cooperative effort of the Office of Special Investigations and Soviet authorities. Id. The court next spoke to the difficulties of Soviet involvement: 47 The Soviet authorities are outside of the jurisdiction of the United States judicial system. Consequently it is impossible to provide the usual safeguards of trustworthiness of the evidence having its source in the Soviet Union. This becomes a matter of concern for two reasons. First, the Soviet authorities have a strong motive to ensure that the government succeeds in this case. Second the Soviet criminal and judicial system is structured to tailor evidence and produce results which will further the important political ends of the Soviet state at the expense, if need be, of justice in a particular case. 48 Id. 49 The motive the court alluded to in the above passage is the desire of the current Soviet government to discredit emigres who fled Eastern Europe in the face of the impending Soviet advancement towards the end of the Second World War. Id. 50 As a result of procedural irregularities similar to those evinced in the instant case, the Kungys court refused to consider the deposition testimony as evidence that the defendant committed acts of persecution. Id. at 1132. 51 In the instant appeal, we are again faced with a cooperative effort among the Office of Special Investigations and the Soviet authorities. We agree with the IJ that Soviet involvement in the procurement of the deposition testimony seriously undermined its trustworthiness. Therefore, we find that the IJ properly discounted the deposition testimony in his fact finding determinations. 52 In spite of the trustworthiness problems with the deposition testimony, the IJ did review the videotapes. He found them of little probative value. First, the IJ noted that only two of the deponents, Engelis and Zvirgzds, claimed that Laipenieks had physically assaulted them. Engelis, however, was unable to recognize Laipenieks from a photographic display as the individual who had beaten him. In addition, Engelis recalled that the person he remembered as Laipenieks had entered another room to have a smoke. Yet the IJ observed that the record revealed that at that time Laipenieks was an Olympic class athlete and did not smoke. 53 Zvirgzds identified three different individuals from an eight-person photo display as Laipenieks. The IJ found Zvirgzds' testimony that Laipenieks had beaten a fellow prisoner impeached by an inconsistent 1976 statement made to a Soviet official in which he could not recall the individual who had instigated the beating. 54 The IJ found the seven other deponents similarly lacking in credibility. The IJ observed that the seventy-three year old Rode's memory was faulty. Smerkerstans, too, had a faulty memory. The IJ noted that the deposition demonstrated that Smerkerstans was occasionally unresponsive, had difficulty hearing, had lost his eyesight and had damaged nerves. The IJ found Endelis' testimony probative only to the extent of placing Laipenieks at the central prison in 1941. The depositions of Striguns and Salminsh did help establish that Laipenieks worked for the LPP. However, neither Striguns nor Salminsh claimed that Laipenieks had engaged in persecutorial acts during his tenure with the LPP. Ignats also linked Laipenieks to the prison but did not suggest that Laipenieks had engaged in persecutorial acts. Finally, Beikmanis' testimony was found by the IJ to be scattered, imprecise and discredited. 55 The IJ noted that only two of the nine deponents, Rode and Smekerstans, whose memories were noticeably faulty, were able to identify positively Laipenieks from the eight-person photo spread. In addition, the IJ found of little value several of the deponents' testimony that fellow prisoners had communicated to them that Laipenieks had mistreated them. He noted the forty year span since the conversations had occurred and the obvious hearsay problems inherent in such testimony. 56