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Former-Prime Minister Olmert begins 19-month prison sentence
Israel’s former-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert began a 19-month custodial sentence yesterday for bribery and obstruction of justice, becoming the country’s first head of government to be imprisoned.
Olmert was convicted in March last year of accepting bribes to smooth over the construction of the large ‘Holyland’ real estate project, during his time as Mayor of Jerusalem from 1993-2003. The presiding judge issued a scathing verdict at the time, saying that the case had “exposed governance that grew more corrupt and rotten over the years.” In April, the courts agreed with a state prosecution request that Olmert be handed a minimum sentence of six years in prison.
However, Olmert subsequently launched an appeal against his conviction. His central argument was the unreliability of key testimony by state witness Shmuel Dachner, who died in 2013 before defence lawyers could cross-examine him. Israel’s Supreme Court decided to uphold Olmert’s conviction but to drastically reduce his prison sentence to just 18 months. This was recently increased by one month, after Olmert admitted to pressuring a key witness not to testify against him.
Yesterday morning, Olmert arrived at the Maasiyahu Prison where he will serve his sentence in a separate special wing housing high-profile prisoners. Hours before his incarceration, Olmert’s office released a three and a half minute video in which Olmert said that “no man is above the law,” but that “it is important for me to say again … I reject outright all the corruption allegations against me.” He expressed hope that the public “will recognise that during my term as prime minister, honest and promising attempts were made to create an opening for hope and a better future of peace.”
As Prime Minister, Olmert led Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War and in 2007 held advanced peace talks with the Palestinian Authority. However, he resigned as Prime Minister in 2008 in order to fight a plethora of charges against him, which he had battled largely successfully until the ‘Holyland’ verdict last March.