Testimony

טקסטים

2022

We explain what a testimonial is, what types exist, their characteristics and examples. Also, what is false testimony.

Testimonies can provide important information to clarify the truth.

What is a testimonial?

A testimony is an account or a statement made by a witness, a survivor or a person whose judgment is trusted. The word witness comes from the Latin testimony and derives from the Latin word testis (“witness”), so it can be understood as the account of a witness.

For their part, witnesses are people who, in a conflict or in an event, assume a neutral position or are considered reliable voices to listen to their story. For example, people who survive genocides, catastrophes or great historical conflicts, usually later give their testimony in the form of memories, Chronicles or even novels.

Testimonials are very important within the apparatus of Justice, since they serve to attest before a jury or a judge that the things being evaluated occurred in one way and not another, or to provide certain important information to clarify the TRUE. These testimonies are usually made under oath, that is, under the commitment to tell "the truth and nothing but the truth."

Characteristics of the testimonials

The testimonials, in general, are characterized by the following:

  • They are texts that can be more or less long in length, but always elaborated in the first person, since they correspond to the version of the facts affirmed by the witness.
  • Many times they are prepared under oath or commitment to the truth, and bear the signature or name of the witness in question.
  • They can serve as evidence or proof to establish the truth in a case of historical, judicial or other controversy.
  • A testimony can be contradicted or complemented by another testimony, so that different testimonies are possible regarding the same subject.

Types of testimonials

Judicial testimonies allow justice to be dispensed.

Testimonials can be classified into:

  • Judicial testimonies, when they are requested by a court in order to establish the truth of a case and thus impart justice. These testimonies are public and given under oath.
  • Historical testimonies, when they have to do with events of historical importance such as tragedies, catastrophes, genocides, etc.
  • Religious testimonies, when they have the task of convincing non-believers of their own doctrine, as used in the name of Jehovah's Witnesses.
  • Literary testimonies, when it comes to historical testimonies narrated in a poetic or creative way, as in the case of a novel or a fictional story.

testimonial examples

Some examples of testimonials:

  • Hell of the Khmer Rouge , testimony written by Denise Affonço, a Cambodian survivor of the Maoist regime that ruled her country between 1975 and 1979.
  • Shoah , a ten-hour film by Claude Lanzmann, in which numerous Jewish survivors of concentration camps bear witness to what they experienced in World War II.
  • Never Again. Report of the National Commission on the disappearance of persons , a world-renowned report on the disappearance of people during the most recent Military Dictatorship in Argentina. It is a book that testifies about the genocide perpetrated by the Argentine government forces between 1976 and 1983.
  • The testimony presented by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, before the United States Congress in 2018, explaining the operation of his company in the face of accusations of favoring foreign interests and irresponsibly handling the personal information of thousands of American citizens.

false testimony

A "false testimony" is one that does not tell the truth, or that intentionally misrepresents the events that it relates, so that in certain cases (in which it is done under oath) it can be taken as a crime in itself. In other words, those who present false testimony in court can be criminally charged for obstructing the application of justice.

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