Pollard In Court On Tuesday

Arutz7 News - August 31, 2003

For the first time in more than 16 years, Jonathan Pollard will be seen in public, however briefly, this Tuesday, September 2, 2003. He will be brought to a federal court in Washington for as his lawyers argue for his right to be re-sentenced. Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan will hear arguments on motions to vacate Pollard's life sentence and to gain access to the sealed court sentencing docket file. Pollard's attorneys argue that ineffective counsel deprived Pollard of his constitutional rights, resulting in an unjustified life sentence.

As Pollard's wife Esther recently explained to Arutz-7, the upcoming court session is not a trial or hearing, but merely a procedure during which the attorneys for both sides once again present oral arguments. "It's essentially just more talk about whether or not to allow the attorneys to continue Jonathan's cases which have already been sitting on the judge's desk for the last three years," she told Israeli radio personality Nissim Mishal. "It is a device that allows the Court to avoid making a decision on those two cases."

Esther Pollard expressed frustration at the impression being conveyed: "As long as the public has the mistaken impression that something important is happening in court, they will not be concerned for Jonathan. Meanwhile, a lot more time is being wasted as Jonathan continues to languish in prison without any hope of this court date moving his case forward at all." She further said that the announcement of this court date "destroys any hope that Jonathan had that the Government of Israel might finally actually do something for him..."