Prosecutors ask court not to delay Leifer case with new psychiatric testimony

The State Attorney’s Office International Affairs Department has submitted a request to the Jerusalem District Court to reconsider its decision from yesterday to allow attorneys of alleged serial pedophile Malka Leifer to submit new medical opinions contradicting the conclusions of a psychiatric panel that found her mentally fit for extradition to Australia.

“In light of the panel’s opinion, it is now clear that the Honorable Court… and mental health services have fallen victim to over five years of fraud and impersonation by the defendant and her associates,” the prosecutors from the State Attorney’s Office write in the request, adding that the repeated delays have been preventing Israel from adhering to its extradition agreement with Australia.

The judge presiding over Leifer’s trial on Tuesday granted the request of her attorneys that they be allowed to submit the new medical opinions.

The decision to allow psychiatrists Moshe Kotler and Sam Tiano, who testified last year that Leifer suffers from severe mental illness and is therefore not fit for extradition, to submit their opinions will almost certainly force the prosecution to cross-examine the two doctors, further extending the already nearly six-year-long proceedings, a legal official told The Times of Israel — and thus further delaying her extradition.

Judge Chana Lomp gave the defense until next Monday to submit the new psychiatric opinions and reserved March 12 for the cross-examination of Kotler and Tiano.

— Jacob Magid