Gianni Tognoni

in Léo Matarasso, Seminario del 6 dicembre 2008, Cedetim, Parigi

I had said that I had would like to remember Léo in relation to the TPP, which is the context in which I had the most opportunity to know him. As I took notes, in my head, then on paper, and then reviewing the sessions he attended, the memories multiplied, and piled up: and I realized how important Léo – so different from me, in character and style, beyond of course his incomparable experiences, knowledge, skills – was to me, and a friend. And how much I felt that his home and studio, up there, where we met (also sharing fantastic food and wine) were my places.
If I remember this “being there” of Léo’s life in his work, it is also because it seems to me to be an essential aspect of his “being there” in the TPP: one of the expressions of his experience. He was infinitely “behind the scenes” of the TPP (never an assignment, never a chairmanship of ….), in order to be a non-essential part of the style of the TPP, of its language, of the mixture of courage, heresy, rigor that had to be intrinsic to an instrument that must belong – in the same way? – to two very different realities: formality and rules of law, life, open questions, the law – still to be made (and not only to be applied) of the peoples.
Just a few notes here to complete my contribution within the limits of a memory that is a thank you, and a way to continue (so many years later) his “lesson”.
– Léo participated in the work of the TPP from the first session on the Sahrawi people, then with Argentina, the sessions on Afghanistan, East Timor, Zaire, Guatemala, the genocide of the Armenian people, Puerto Rico, until the one on Tibet in November 1992. The spectrum of themes is wide, representative of the whole of the work. From this program, I remember above all the intelligence, the political lucidity, the freedom of ideas for Afghanistan and the Armenian people: there was a lot of opposition. The preparatory meetings (also for the Sessions) were interminable. And Léo’s “memory”, as well as his house, are the protagonists.
– I would like to underline Léo’s style of availability: accepting, if he can, even at the last minute, to “integrate” a jury that was missing someone. He, who was the “oldest”, came from so far away: with the normality and punctuality of a young and new member.
– Working with Léo was not always easy. Neither in the preparation of the sessions, nor in the elaboration of the stops. He was very strict to keep everything as close as possible to the existing “rules”. He did not compromise on the “excessive” use of the qualifications of responsibility and crimes. He forced himself, with “his” style, to go back on texts, witnesses, editorials. However, he never broke off the collegial work. On the contrary: when it came to finding solutions, he found them “forward” and not backward. Always available – true to his story – to “be there”: in the background, and with stories and its challenges, the deep meaning of a path that is never linear: but always has to be told from the people’s side. So that this narrative can also gradually transform into a language and rules that will assert its rights. To closely interweave the “organized history” of the Tribunal with the history that history makes of the same things, in a non-linear way. As when he recounted all the meetings and behind-the-scenes of the “official” history of which he found himself a witness-protagonist.
– It seems to me that this style of “normalcy” and impatience/patience to experience the relationship between history and law is Léo’s remaining contribution to the TPP journey.

in:

<strong>Léo Matarasso,
Seminario del 6 dicembre 2008, Cedetim, Parigi
Milano, maggio 2009</strong>