Witness History Folgen

In November 1996 the renowned international ornithologist Tony Silva was convicted of smuggling endangered birds into the US. Some of the animals had been stuffed into cardboard containers for the journey from South America; others were hidden in false-bottom suitcases. Silva argued that he was trying to protect the birds from extinction. Ashley Byrne has been speaking to federal prosecutor Sergio Acosta, who worked on the high-profile case.Photo: A pair of Hyacinth Macaws groom each other at the Sao Paulo Zoo, Brazil. They are one of the rarest species of birds in the world with only 130 pairs living in the wild in the Brazilian province of Bahia. (MAURICIO LIMA/AFP/Getty Images)

In 1995 one of Madagascar's most historic sites was destroyed by fire. The palace complex, which contains the stone clad Queen's Palace, dominates the capital Antananarivo. It is the burial site for Madagascar's kings and queens and is considered sacred by many. The destruction of the site caused widespread grief and anger in Madagascar. We hear from Simon Peers, who witnessed the devastating fire.Photo: Workers restoring the Queen's Palace which was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in 1995 (AFP/Getty Images)

On 12 November 1991, Indonesian troops opened fire on independence activists in East Timor's capital, Dili. Marco Silva has spoken to the British cameraman Max Stahl, who filmed the attack on unarmed demonstrators in the Santa Cruz graveyard.(Photo: East Timorese activists preparing for the demonstration. Copyright: Max Stahl)