Last update - 00:00 17/04/2007
Judge: No secret trial for former AIPAC lobbyists charged with espionage
By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
WASHINGTON - Judge T.S. Ellis III ruled Monday that the prosecution in the trial of the two former AIPAC lobbyists charged with espionage will not be allowed to keep significant portions of the trial secret.
The government proposal, he said in court, "closes significant parts of this trial and fails to pass constitutional muster." He scheduled another meeting of the court to this Thursday in order to give the prosecutors time to respond to this decision.
Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman are charged with relaying classified information to unauthorized contact people, among them Israeli officials. The ruling Monday is a major victory for the defense.
More about recent developments in this trial in Rosner's Domain.
The battle over the openness of this trial started long ago as the government wanted to use the method known as the "silent witness." This procedure enables the prosecutors to provide evidence to the defense and to the jury, but still withhold it from any public viewing.
The prosecutors suggested to use codes to keep information related to the trial secret from the public. The judge ruled that this system would confuse the jury.
The defense argued that the government was trying to use means that would make the trial "fundamentally unfair." News organizations, among them The Associated Press and The Washington Post, joined in opposition to the closing of parts of the trial and last week a Jewish organization also joined in this opposition.