MR DE ROSSA said the first time he saw a copy of the "Moscow letter" was when it appeared in The Irish Times in 1992. He had never seen the original letter in the archive in Moscow.
Under cross-examination by Mr Patrick MacEntec SC, for Independent Newspapers, Mr De Rossa said he had already left the Workers' Party when the letter, dated September 15th, 1986, emerged.
Mr MacEntee asked if when he read it he made any attempt to contact Sean Garland, the other alleged signatory. Mr De Rossa said he did not. He and Sean Garland had not met or spoken since an ardchomhairle meeting in February, 1992. The meeting led to the split from the WP and the formation of Democratic Left.
Mr MacEntee said he appreciated Mr De Rossa had seen a photocopy and took it he had never seen the original in Moscow.
Mr De Rossa said he had not. Asked if he had ever examined the archive, he said he had not been in Moscow since 1989.
Counsel asked if the notepaper used was the same as that used the WP in 1986. Mr De Rossa said it seemed similar but the layout of the address and phone number was slightly different and the Starry Plough symbol was much smaller.
Mr MacEntee then read out the Moscow letter. When he finished reading it, he asked if the political analysis on the state of Ireland contained in the first four pages would have been the view of the WP on September 15th, 1986.
Mr De Rossa said it would seem so but there were some things in it with which he would quibble. The opening paragraph was wrong. He did not convey any such message. He was in Moscow at that time.
Mr MacEntee said: "Stop there. You were in Moscow then?"
Mr De Rossa said: "On that date, yes."
Referring to the first paragraph, Mr De Rossa said the reference to warm and fraternal greetings was fairly innocuous but it went on to talk about addressing an important and urgent message in which he had no hand, act or part.
His presence in Moscow at the time was as a stop-over on the way to a nuclear conference in North Korea. He stopped overnight on the way out to North Korea and on the way back. "During that period it would appear this letter was penned," he said.
He said it was his first time in Russia. Mr MacEntee said it was a place for which Mr De Rossa had considerable admiration and his party had sent the most fulsome letters to the central committee of the Communist Party of the USSR (CPSU). He suggested it was a major event for him.
Mr De Rossa said that it was. It was a period when Gorbachev had taken over as general secretary of the CPSU and had pushed very hard at the policy of perestroika and glasnost. It was an important visit from his point of view. He was looking forward to it.
Asked about his arrival, Mr De Rossa said he arrived late in the evening. He could recall that because the arrangements made by Sean Garland to be met at the airport had fallen through. They were waiting for one or two hours at the airport to be brought to the hotel.
A man called Lev turned up and they were taken to the hotel. They did not meet anyone else that night. To his recollection they departed late the next day or the following day.
He could not recall what he did that day.
Mr MacEntee asked it he went to Red Square or the mausoleum where Lenin's body was. Mr De Rossa said he did not, he was note that much into visiting mausoleums or graves.
Mr MacEntee said he realised it was over 10 years ago, but he wanted to press him on how he had spent his first day ever in Moscow. Mr De Rossa said: "I am telling you, I do not recall how I spent that day in Moscow."
At some stage, he visited Gorky Park and a shop that accepted sterling and dollars, and he went to the bullet. There was a meeting with someone from a publishing company which Repsol had a business relationship with. He also met another man in connection with the travel arrangements.
He also met the editor of a magazine who published a fairly bad, from their point of view, assessment of the situation in Northern Ireland and he had some sharp words with him.
One of the meetings took place, in the hotel and the meeting with the editor was in his office somewhere. They had an interpreter, an elderly man, a veteran of the second World War, who had extremely good English.
Counsel asked what time did the interpreter turn up. Mr De Rossa said he did not recall the details of the first day. His recollection of the interpreter, whose name he did not remember, was that he came at some stage at breakfast and on another occasion at tea-time.
Mr MacEntee said could he take it that both Russia and North Korea required visas. Mr De Rossa said they would have. His passport was not stamped. He was not aware he got the visa. They would have filled in a form on the aircraft- and would have handed it in as they landed.
Counsel asked if there was no way of checking. Mr De Rossa said he had no way of checking.