Supreme Court upholds denial of parole for celebrity rabbi

Judge determines Yoshiyahu Pinto failed to comply with required therapy sessions; doesn’t rule out medical furlough from prison

Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto arrives to testify in Jerusalem District Court on August 1, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto arrives to testify in Jerusalem District Court on August 1, 2016. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled celebrity rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto will serve the remainder of his one-year prison sentence, upholding a lower court’s overturning of a parole board decision to release him early on medical grounds.

Justice Uzi Fogelman in his decision said Pinto failed to fully participate in court-ordered rehabilitative therapy sessions at the Nitzan Prison in Ramle.

The court further dismissed as untrue Pinto’s claims that state prosecutors had provided additional, confidential evidence against him in order to persuade the Central District Court to reverse the parole board’s decision to release him.

Fogelman said his ruling did not preclude Pinto from seeking a furlough for medical treatment.

Ephraim Bracha, at the time a chief superintendent, seen at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, October 20, 2014. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Pinto was convicted of bribing a senior police officer and is slated for release in February.

In September, Pinto petitioned the parole board for early release, citing ill-health stemming from his battle with cancer.

The parole board parole board agreed to free Pinto three months early, on the condition he participate in therapy and submit to house arrest from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Days later, however, the Central District Court in Lod overturned the parole board’s decision, with state prosecutors saying prison officials had failed to give “appropriate weight” to the gravity of Pinto’s crime, his behavior and a police assessment. Pinto’s lawyers filed an appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the decision.

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 Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha, who reported the incident to his superior.

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. Bracha committed suicide in July 2015 after an extended campaign of defamation against him. He was cleared of any wrongdoing hours after his death.

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