In its Decision of 26 March, the Trial Chamber in the
Gatete case recalled that a witness is not bound strictly by what he has said in his statement, but that he may speak to matters immediately connecting or relevant to the issues that he has mentioned in his statement.
Gatete, Decision on Defence Motion for Exclusion of Evidence and Delineation of the Defence Case, Case No. ICTR-2000-61-PT, T. Ch., 26 March 2010, para. 30.
In the
Bizimungu Casimir et al.case, the Trial Chamber did not allow a witness to testify on some factual issues not contained in his statement since, according to the Chamber, they were prejudicial to the Defence. The Chamber, however, noted that this did not mean that the witness would be bound strictly by what he had stated in his statement. The witness would be able to speak to matters immediately connecting or relevant to the issues that he had mentioned in his statement. In order to avoid this type of situation, the Chamber directed the Prosecution to give notice to the Defence, as soon as possible, of any additional matters not referred to in a statement of a witness who was going to be called by the Prosecution.
Bizimungu Casimir et al., transcript, Case No.¬¬¬ ICTR-99-50, 3 December 2003, pp. 36-37.