The state attorney’s office says it will give controversial Likud MK Oren Hazan a hearing before deciding whether to press charges in an assault case.
“Before deciding to press charges, the suspect has been summoned for a hearing,” says a statement from the courts.
Hazan is suspected of assaulting a senior official in the municipality of the West Bank settlement of Ariel some two years ago in an apparent dispute over a debt.
After the city froze his bank account, Hazan arrived at the office and cursed and pushed the municipal director, the courts say.
Hazan, who entered the Knesset in the last election, has become known as the enfant terrible of Israel’s parliament.
Likud MK Oren Hazan seen at the Magistrate’s Court in Tel Aviv on March 6, 2016, for a hearing for a libel lawsuit Hazan filed against Channel 2 News reporter Amit Segal. (Flash90)
Last week he had his driver’s license suspended for traveling at a speed of over 140 kilometers per hour (over 87 mph) on Route 90, where the limit is 90 kilometers per hour (56 mph).
Shortly after he entered politics, a Channel 2 expose alleged that Hazan had previously run a casino in Bulgaria where hard drugs and prostitution were allowed. He sued the station’s journalist Amit Segal for libel but the court rejected the lawsuit.
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
