NEW YORK — Jewish leaders in New York appealed to the governor for the release of a Hasidic community counselor imprisoned for sexual abuse, arguing that his sentence was disproportionate, according to court documents that surfaced this month.

Nechemya Weberman, 67, an unlicensed religious counselor in the Satmar Hasidic movement, was sentenced to 103 years in prison in 2013, in a major case for the New York Jewish community.

He was convicted of 59 counts, including sustained sexual abuse of a child, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse.

Weberman’s sentence was reduced to 50 years later in 2013. He is incarcerated in the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

The case resurfaced this month when Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez backed a move to issue a new sentence for Weberman. Weberman is scheduled to appear in court next month.

As the case reemerged, court filings obtained by The Times of Israel showed that last December, an array of Jewish leaders

© The Times of Israel