No victim impact statement but instead....
This is so totally warped.I am sure that many of you are familiar with the concept of a victim impact statement, in which the family of a murder victim is permitted to tell a court or a jury how their lives have changed as a result of a murder, as a prelude to either sentencing the murderer or deciding on the murderer's parole or release.
Here in Israel, the terror victims' families have no right to appear before the court, and those of them who wish to do so have to appeal the individual pardon decisions (that are a prerequisite for the exchange) so that the High Court of Justice can go through the motions of saying no. On the other hand, the Shalit family (the picture is Gilad's brother and the brother's girlfriend disrupting last year's Independence Day ceremony) is going to be allowed to testify to the court about the impact of delaying the 'exchange' for any period of time.
The Shalit family requested on Sunday to be present at a High Court of Justice hearing, scheduled to discuss petitions issued geared at thwarting a prisoner exchange deal that would secure the release of their son, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, warning that any delay in the agreement's execution could lead to its failure.YNet confirms:
The court is expected to discuss the petitions of individual families of terror victims aginst the Shalit deal on noon Monday, as well as they of the Almagor Terror Victims Association.
A number of bereaved families whose loved ones were murdered in dozens of terrorist attacks will plead before the court to prevent the release of the Palestinian prisoners as part of the deal.Outrageous. Simply outrageous.
On the other side, Gilad Shalit's father Noam Shalit will ask the justices to refrain from interfering in the deal that would bring his son home. So far, four petitions have been filed with the court against the prisoner exchange.
The petitions will be deliberated on starting at noon, while the State Prosecutor's Office will submit its response to the petitions two hours before the hearing begins. The state bench will include Noam Shalit, who will also address Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and Justices Eliezer Rivlin and Hanan Melcer.
Labels: Gilad Shalit, Noam Shalit, terror victims, terrorists for Gilad trade
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:13 AM
1 Comments:
The present situation reveals the lack of protection crime victims in Israel have.
They have no legal standing for redress and ability to get heard before the government and the courts Their concerns get short-shrift in official decision-making.
The upshot of the Shalit deal is likely to further discredit the standing of Israeli law enforcement and the judiciary and exacerbate social alienation.
For that, both the Israeli government and society have only themselves to blame.
Simply outrageous, indeed
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