Day 240 - 24 Apr 96 - Page 10
1
2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, certainly. Do you want me to rise while
3 you do that?
4
5 MR. MORRIS: It might be useful to take the 5-minute break?
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
8
9 (Short adjournment)
10
11 MR. MORRIS: We call our witness, Mr. Secrett.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Mr. Secrett, if at any stage you want
14 to sit down, just pull the chair to the front of the
15 witness box?
16
17 THE WITNESS: Thank you, your Honour.
18
19 CHARLES MICHAEL SECRETT, Sworn
20 EXAMINED BY THE DEFENDANTS
21
22 MR. MORRIS: Can you give the court your full name, please?
23 A. My name is Charles Michael Secrett.
24
25 Q. With a double T?
26 A. With a double T.
27
28 Q. You are currently Director of Friends of the Earth; is that
29 correct?
30 A. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, yes.
31
32 Q. You reside in London, do you?
33 A. I do.
34
35 Q. Just a little bit about yourself. How long have you been
36 involved with Friends of the Earth?
37 A. I first started working for Friends of the Earth on
38 September 28th, 1980.
39
40 Q. And when did you become Director?
41 A. I became Director in January, 1st January 1993.
42
43 Q. Right. When did you become involved in the whole issue of
44 tropical forests and beef in general?
45 A. I first started investigating the issues surrounding
46 tropical deforestation in 1982/1983.
47
48 Q. I think you deal with some of that in your statement.
49 Apart from your involvement in Friends of the Earth
50 campaigning, were you also involved with the International
51 Institute for Environment and Development?
52 A. Yes. I left Friends of the Earth in the summer of 1989
53 to go and live in Brazil, and I came back to this country
54 in the summer of 1990 and started working for the
55 International Institute for Environment and Development in
56 London and continued working there until I was appointed
57 into my present job in 1993.
58
59 Q. Can you explain what the work that you did for the
60 International Institute was and what that body in fact is?
