Illness of Justice Binyamin Halevi, one of the three judges trying Adolf Eichmann, today forced postponement for a week of the resumption of the trial of the former Gestapo colonel. The trial had been scheduled originally to be resumed tomorrow. The final stages of the marathon hearings, which began last April 11, will be summations by Attorney General Gideon Hausner, the chief prosecutor, and Dr. Robert Servatius, Eichmann’s chief defense counsel.
The postponement until Aug. 10 raised the possibility that the end stages of the trial will run into Israel’s national election on Aug. 15. The Attorney General has indicated he would need three days for his summation and Dr. Servatius has said he would need one or two days. After completion of the summary statements, the three judge court will retire to study the mountain of documentary and eye-witness testimony with the verdict not expected before the High Holy Days. Dr. Servatius has said he will appeal an expected verdict of guilty to the Israeli Supreme Court.
It was learned meanwhile that interrogation of Eichmann in his Jerusalem cell by Dr. Dietrich Zweig, the West German observer at the trial, who seeks information on Nazi was criminals awaiting trial in West Germany, has produced no useful results. Although Eichmann has not refused to answer questions from Dr. Zweig, the replies reportedly were of the “same evasive nature as those characterizing his trial testimony in his own defense. He has not, so far in this interrogation, produced any useful information for the West German prosecutor’s office.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
