Court quashes parole board decision to free celebrity rabbi
Panel ‘failed to adequately consider’ case of Yoshiyahu Pinto, in jail for bribing police official, judges rule; lawyers to appeal
Celebrity rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto will not be tasting the fruits of freedom this Jewish New Year after a district court on Thursday overturned a parole board decision to release him from jail early on medical grounds.
The rabbi’s lawyers said they will petition the Supreme Court against the district court’s decision.
Pinto was sentenced to a year in jail and a NIS 1 million ($260,000) fine for bribing a senior police officer who subsequently retired from the force.
In February, he began serving his time at Nitzan Prison in Ramle, central Israel.
A week ago, the parole board decided to free Pinto three months early, citing the fact that he is suffering from cancer.
On Friday, state prosecutors told the central district court that the parole board had failed to give “appropriate weight” to the facts put before it, given the serious nature of the crime, the way Pinto had related to his crime, the contents of confidential information provided to it, and the police assessment of that information and its implications.
On Thursday, Judge Avraham Tal accepted the prosecution’s appeal after a hearing at Lod District Court, Channel 2 News reported.
Tal said in his verdict that the parole board had not given sufficient weight to the risk posed by the rabbi in light of his actions. It had not sufficiently considered the results of his treatment and rehabilitation, nor given enough weight to confidential information provided to it and to the court.
Pinto’s lawyer, Avi Heimi, said that while he and his client would abide by the court’s decision, “the prosecution’s behavior during this case is very worrying,” the Ynet news site reported.
The rabbi, who enjoys an international following among celebrities and business leaders, as well as high-powered contacts in the Israeli government and elsewhere, was sentenced to time in prison as well as a NIS 1 million ($260,000) fine for bribing a senior police officer who subsequently retired from the force.
Another of Pinto’s lawyers, Rotem Tubul, said, “The court ignored the many reasons given by the parole board…. Our next step is to appeal to the Supreme Court.”
The family of the late Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha — the object of Pinto’s bribery attempts, who reported the offer to his superiors and subsequently committed suicide last year — reacted with horror last Monday to the release committee’s decision to free Pinto early.
“After the state abandoned our dear Ephraim in his lifetime, it has abandoned him once more in death,” they said. They added that the decision conveyed a message to the police force that “they shouldn’t report on bribery offers but ignore them, because the criminals will not really be properly punished.”
Hours after his death, the Justice Ministry cleared Bracha of any wrongdoing.
Under his plea bargain, Pinto agreed to testify against Menashe Arviv, the former head of the police anti-corruption unit, who is suspected of receiving benefits from businessmen associated with the rabbi.
Pinto’s lawyers alleged to the State Attorney’s Office that Arviv had accepted favors illegally and provided secret information in return.
The scandal prompted Arviv to take an extended vacation, and then, in February, to resign after 36 years of service in the police, though he maintained his innocence.
