State Attorney’s Office tells court it opposes Netanyahu’s request to delay testimony

The State Attorney’s Office tells the Jerusalem District Court that it opposes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to postpone his testimony in his criminal trial on corruption charges, which is currently set to begin on December 2.

Netanyahu’s legal team filed a request this week to delay his testimony by two and a half months, claiming that the security situation had made it impossible to properly prepare the prime minister.

But the State Attorney’s Office insists he has been given enough time by the court to prepare already, and that it is in the public interest for the trial to proceed to a conclusion as quickly as possible.

In its submission to the court, the State Attorney’s Office notes that the court already gave Netanyahu and his legal team five months to prepare when, in July, it set the start date for his testimony for December 2.

“Now after five months have gone by, and just three weeks before the date set for the beginning of the testimony… the defense requests a delay of another 10 weeks,” it says.

Prosecutors also point out that the trial has already taken five years and says that “the public interest in this case is that the trial be concluded as quickly as possible” and that the principle be upheld that “everyone is equal before the law.”