Prosecution begins final arguments in Liberman trial

Avigdor Liberman should be convicted for fraud and breach of trust, the state’s prosecutor said Tuesday morning as closing arguments in the trial of the former foreign minister got underway at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.

Liberman, who was indicted in December on charges of fraud and breach of trust, is accused of illegally using his clout to promote former ambassador to Latvia Ze’ev Ben Aryeh, allegedly as a reward to Ben Aryeh for leaking to Liberman details of major corruption allegations against him. That corruption case was eventually closed for lack of evidence.

Michal Darel, who serves as deputy head of the economic department in the State Attorney’s Office, began the prosecution’s closing argument by relating the details of a private meeting between Ben Aryeh and Liberman in a hotel room in Minsk in 2008 during which Ben Aryeh handed him a note containing information on the case against him.

Liberman does not dispute the fact of the meeting or the existence of the note, but has testified that as soon as he realized what information the note contained, he discarded it in the hotel room’s bathroom.

Liberman subsequently complained to a political colleague about Ben Aryeh’s behavior, telling fellow Yisrael Beytenu MK Faina Kirschenbaum that “he’s going to get us in trouble,” according to testimony presented in the trial.

Liberman was forced to step down from his ministerial position on December 14, after the state attorney announced his intention to file an indictment against him over the Ben Aryeh affair. He currently serves as chairman of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The foreign minister post is filled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is holding it for Liberman in case he is acquitted.

If Liberman is convicted and receives a sentence that carries with it “moral turpitude,” he will be barred from public service positions for seven years.

Liberman “violated his commitment to faithfully serve the state of Israel and breached the trust of the voting public,” Darel said.

“Liberman understood that the ambassador’s action was a very serious [infraction], and ‘killed’ the note,” Darel said. Yet, “just six months later, the defendant was involved once again in the appointment of an ambassador who so badly infringed on the trust of the Israeli public to a new ambassadorial post.”

Darel also asked the court to convict Liberman even without considering the testimony of his former deputy Danny Ayalon.

Ayalon, who found himself unexpectedly left off Yisrael Beytenu’s Knesset list in December, became a key witness against his former boss, testifying that Liberman had asked him to help Ben Aryeh get appointed ambassador to Latvia.

Ayalon’s testimony was called into question by the defense, which noted that in a Channel 1 interview with news anchor Geula Even in November, Ayalon told Even he could not recall any interference by Liberman in Ben Aryeh’s appointment.

Asked for comment Tuesday, Liberman’s spokesman Tzachi Moshe told The Times of Israel that “we’re not conducting this trial in the media.”

The prosecution is scheduled to take two weeks for closing arguments. The defense is set to begin closing arguments July 25.