![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2012\/03\/JamesOssuary2-300x228.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHere is the news we have long been waiting for. Matthew Kalman is the one reporter who sat through the whole year after year trial. Here is his report on the judge\u2019s final verdict today. <\/p>\n
MATTHEW KALMAN
\nJerusalem\u2014 Special to Globe and Mail Update
\nWednesday, Mar. 14, 2012<\/p>\n
A Roman-era burial box inscribed \u201cJames, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus\u201d was reprieved from the scrapheap of history on Wednesday when a Jerusalem judge completely exonerated an Israeli antiquities collector who had been accused of forging it.<\/p>\n
The verdict, delivered by Judge Aharon Farkash in a tiny, crowded courtroom in the Jerusalem District Courthouse, ended a seven-year ordeal for the accused, Oded Golan, 60, but it will do little to extinguish the decade-long scientific controversy over the authenticity of the limestone box which has raged since it was first displayed to the public at the Royal Ontario Museum in 2002.<\/p>\n
If genuine, the burial box, or ossuary, is the first physical artifact yet discovered that might be connected with the family of the historical Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Mr. Golan had been accused of adding the second half of the inscription linking it to Jesus, and then fabricating the patina, the bio-organic coating that adheres to ancient objects, to pass it off as genuine.<\/p>\n
But Judge Farkash said the prosecution had failed to prove any of the serious charges against Mr. Golan and acquitted him on all but three minor charges of illegal antiquities dealing and possession of stolen antiquities. Robert Deutsch, a co-defendant, was acquitted on all charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prosecution failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubt what was stated in the indictment: that the ossuary is a forgery and that Mr. Golan or someone acting on his behalf forged it,\u201d Judge Farkash told the court, summarizing his 475-page verdict.<\/p>\n
He noted that it was the first time a criminal court had been asked to rule in a case of antiquities forgery.<\/p>\n
The spectacular collapse of the trial, nine years after Mr. Golan was arrested and thousands of items were seized from his home, office and warehouses in Tel Aviv, was a severe blow to the Israeli police and Israel Antiquities Authority, who claimed they had exposed \u201cthe tip of the iceberg\u201d of an international conspiracy selling fake artifacts to collectors and museums worldwide.<\/p>\n
The verdict will be welcomed by those who hope that the ossuary will finally provide a physical connection to the historical Jesus.<\/p>\n
But Judge Farkash, who said he had heard from 126 witnesses and sat through 120 sessions that produced more than 12,000 pages of testimony, acknowledged that the collapse of the criminal trial did not signal the end of the scientific debate over the authenticity of the ossuary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not to say that the inscription on the ossuary is true and authentic and was written 2,000 years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can expect this matter to continue to be researched in the archaeological and scientific worlds and only the future will tell. Moreover, it has not been proved in any way that the words \u2018brother of Jesus\u2019 definitely refer to the Jesus who appears in Christian writings.\u2019<\/p>\n
Judge Farkash was particularly scathing about tests carried out by the Israel police forensics laboratory that he said had probably contaminated the ossuary, making it impossible to carry out further scientific tests on the inscription.<\/p>\n
Mr. Golan, who was accompanied to court by his elderly parents, said he was \u201cdelighted at the complete and total acquittal I have received here today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe brought experts from all over the world who testified that the inscriptions on the items that were suspected of being fakes are completely authentic, following research work by dozens of experts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Dan Bahat said the case had been complicated by the refusal of a key witness, who was suspected of helping to forge many of the items, to come from Egypt to testify.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we tried to do here has set an international precedent,\u201d said Mr. Bahat. \u201cThis is the first time someone has brought the issue of antiquities forgery before a court. Regarding at least one object, a decanter, the court found it was fake.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is the news we have long been waiting for. Matthew Kalman is the one reporter who sat through the whole year after year trial. Here is his report on the judge\u2019s final verdict today. MATTHEW KALMAN Jerusalem\u2014 Special to Globe and Mail Update Wednesday, Mar. 14, 2012 A Roman-era burial box inscribed \u201cJames, son […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n