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A rebellion in the prosecutor's office

2020-02-17T00:02:48.293Z


Boaz Sanjero


Apart from some of the prosecutors, there seems to be little controversy today about the importance of systematic criticism of the prosecutor's office. For the enormous power of attorney to do fate: from the decision to prosecute (even in the rare cases of acquittal, the life of the defendant varies indefinitely), through the decision to ask for arrest, and to the decisions of whether and what plea bargain to offer and how to conduct the trial. It is said that "the plaintiff holds the most terrible means of government." In the Israeli reality, where every body with significant powers was systematically criticized, even the judges, the prosecution remained without significant criticism. Enormous power without effective criticism will eventually corrupt.

In 2014, the Office of the Audit Office of the Prosecutor, established by retired (retired) Hila Gerstel, was established. Within a few years, five systematic audit reports were produced, pointing to significant deficiencies in the prosecution's work and devising effective solutions.

However, some of the prosecutors did not like the criticism. The fifth report was too much for them: The former symbiosis between police and prosecutors and some of the doctors at the Institute of Forensic Medicine was revealed to think that their purpose was to incriminate suspects. It should be noted that the institute's director, Dr. Chen Kugel, is correcting past deficiencies. The Attorney General's Committee, with the back of the Prosecutor's Office for a generation followed by Nitzan, embarked on a wrestling war in Wrestle, which included a lack of cooperation with the audit process, a lawyer's strike, a petition to the High Court and a media campaign with the help of spokesmen and extroverts, until they exhausted and resigned. The authority to conduct systemic audit reports.

The same intoxication of power that led to the Attorney General's strike came to light this week, according to reports that "the State Attorney's Office will try to prevent the Deputy Attorney General from intervening in their areas of responsibility." Rub your eyes and not believe. "In talks between them, the senior officials agreed to limit Eldad's influence and do so in indirect ways, so as not to violate the civil service regulations and risk disciplinary proceedings" (Haaretz, February 10, 2009). Insurgency combined with cowardice.

In the face of cowardice, the question of the daring origin arises. It turns out that Attorney General Mandelblit sent a sharp letter to members of the State Attorney's Office stating: "I have decided - not without hesitation - that in the current state of affairs I will not oppose my opposition to his appointment to office, at this time." Counsel criticized both Justice Minister Elad Eldad wrote that "he was wrong in agreeing to the job under the circumstances. I regret that he chose to act the way he did. "Is it true that the counsel should give the State Attorney's Office legitimacy to prevent a Deputy State Attorney from doing his job properly?

Sadly, this time I must focus my visit on the Mandelblit consultant. I am afraid that in the recent period he was caught mistaking his conception of role, which is expressed by the frequent use of the vague phrase "legal prevention". Thus he stated as to the previous appointment of Attorney Orly Ben-Ari; he had recently stated as to the current appointment of Eldad; in fact, he wrote that there was "legal impediment" to appoint any other candidate who was not his own recommendation. If the appointments were made in contravention of a specific law, The vague notion of "legal prevention" miraculously transfers the decision-making authority to the counselor, despite the fact that, in accordance with the law of authority, the Minister of Justice is an important, high-power body, and needs refreshing and improvement. , And it was preferable to have an external appointment, but even with the conservative appointments of senior prosecutors, with decades of seniority In, there is supposedly "legal impediment".

In recent months, the consultant has repeatedly used the phrase "legal prevention". Although we are in a transitional government, but this period has been going on for about a year, government activity cannot be paralyzed and one must be careful not to replace the rule of the people elected by the judiciary. My fellow lawmakers, a little modesty might be helpful here.

Prof. Boaz Sanjero teaches at the Law and Business Academic Center and at Sapir Academic College and the founder of the site "Review of the Criminal Justice System"

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Source: israelhayom

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