Ofer military court, Monday, 28.8.06Observers: Tova S., Norah O., Roni H. (reporting)Room Nr.1, Judge Shmuel Kedar, prosecutor Shelly Ben -Shahar.We have asked the typist to print for us an extra copy of the protocols and with the help of them we could more easily reconstruct the course of the session. The protocols do not give us all the information we need, but they contain the file number, the name of the judge, of the defendant, of the lawyer and the date of the next hearing. They give a very laconic summary of the arguments of the sides and of the decisions. We have numbered the protocols with consecutive numbers and we’ll store them . Whoever goes in the next weeks to the court can look up in the following schedule and see which of the 33 files we have collected will be discussed on the respective date and can ask Nora for the relevant file (according to the number we gave it) or to pick it up from her. The room where the hearing will take place can be found out in the morning in the secretariat of the court. We recommend to collect protocols on all the shifts. On 04.09.06 – protocol No. 29 will be discussedOn 12.09.06 – protocol No. 2 and N0. 6 will be discussedOn 17.10.06 – No. 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 16, 24, 33On 31.10.06 – No. 8, 12, 16, 19, 20, 23On 06.11.06 – No. 4, 19, 21, 22, 25, 31On 07.11.06 – No. 17, 18, 30, 32On 13.11.06 – No. 14On 14.11.06 – No. 13, 15From 10: 00 to 15:00 ( with 1 3/4 hour of lunch brake) 33 files were heard! (about 6 minutes per file). Out of the 33 there were 14 pleas of not-guilty! The judge expressed openly his surprise about the high number of non-guilty pleas. Out of the 33 there were 4 defendants who were not brought to court. Defense lawyer Ahlam Hadad was very worried about one of her clients (No.2) who was not present and who has told his family that his health and mind were in a very bad state and that somebody forces him to take pills. She demanded inquiry into his case and that that he will be brought before court as soon as possible. Another lawyer, S’faya ( No.10) demanded the release of his client, after having not been brought to court twice! A new hearing was set upThe atmosphere was particularly tense because the prosecution imposed sanctions on the court and did not negotiate with the defense lawyers. The reason for the sanctions, as explained to us, was the poor management of the court (?). All in all the session was characterized by a total chaos. At times there were 50 people in the room and it was impossible to follow the hearings. The judge did not observe strictly the formal procedures of asking the defendant if he understood the charges and the translation was only partial. Soldiers were coming and going and threatened to oust the families when they were talking with their relatives. Without the protocols we would have no picture at all of what was argued and what was decided.