Witnesses at Barbie Trial Under Attack : Testimony Is Not Credible, Ex-Gestapo Chief’s Lawyer Argues

LYON, France — Klaus Barbie’s lawyer, Jacques Verges, today attacked two prosecution witnesses testifying against the former Gestapo chief, saying they were not credible.

It was the lawyer’s strongest assault on testimony from aging survivors of Nazi persecution since Barbie’s trial for World War II crimes against humanity began nearly four weeks ago.

Verges’ attack followed a statement by one witness that in June, 1944, when German forces were fighting Allied troops who landed in France, Barbie was planning a getaway to Latin America in a private plane.

Fernand Hahn, 64, told the court that Barbie made the statement in French to a group of Jewish and Resistance prisoners who were about to be put aboard a sealed train for Dachau.

‘None of You Will Return Alive’

Hahn, a Resistance fighter, said Barbie told the prisoners: “I can certify that none of you will return alive.”

He said Barbie, who was flanked by German soldiers, went on to say that he was in contact with the U.S. Secret Service and that he had a plane ready to fly him to Latin America.

Acknowledging the suffering experienced by Hahn in jail and in the German camps, Verges said the defense “feels somewhat uneasy over having to cross-examine such witnesses.”

“But this time the limit has been reached,” he said. “The witness is not credible; the witness is testifying under influence.”

Verges said: “It is unbelievable that a German officer, surrounded by soldiers, would say in June, 1944, that he no longer believes in a German victory, that he is ready to run and has a plane ready.”

Differed From Depositions

Turning to another witness, 80-year-old Francine Gudefin, whose face is twisted as a result of Gestapo torture and mistreatment in Nazi camps, Verges said her statements in court differed from earlier depositions.

Gudefin, arrested for Resistance activities and deported to Ravensbruck, told the court that Barbie was the first to hit her during an interrogation session at Gestapo headquarters in 1944.

Crying and trembling, she said he later supervised the brutal tortures that disfigured her for life.

Gudefin said Barbie was on the last train to leave German-occupied Lyon on Aug. 11, 1944, for the German death camps. She is the only witness to have said Barbie was on the train with about 650 deportees.

But Verges read to the court earlier statements by the witness in which she said Germans never participated in her interrogation and torture. Shown Barbie’s photograph, she had said she believed that she had seen him.