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Opinion The court in Flanter: even a purely criminal case may take on a political tone Israel today

2023-01-11T04:37:49.224Z


With public trust there is no need for simulations: the lessons from the Zadorov trial are good for all systems in Israel: they must not be turned into an impenetrable wall, as they are trying to build in the prosecutor's office • an impenetrable wall will eventually collapse


A crazy schedule calls for explosive rulings at a sensitive political and legal time.

The background - the government's proposed reform of the legal system led by Yariv Levin.

And into the cauldron are expected to fall the decisions on the Deri issue, and especially on the Roman Zdorov case.

According to the exclusive report of Netael Bandel, the prosecutor's office is conducting war games, among other things, in preparation for the possibility that Zadorov will be acquitted.

The fear is probably that if this happens, there will be someone who will make political use of it to attack the prosecutorial branch of the justice system.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin, photo: Oren Ben Hakon

The issue only exposes the blunder into which the justice system has fallen, when even a pure criminal trial may take on a political tone.

In this case, the fear is unnecessary.

It happens over the years that omissions in indictments are discovered and also a high profile murder accused is acquitted, at least because of the doubt.

Such cases are not what will indicate the state of the system.

What can be learned from the Zadorov case is that there are cases that ignite the imagination of journalists and public figures and succeed in arousing public pressure.

In Zdorov's case, the public pressure consisted of groups of lawyers and docu journalists, who raised questions about the investigation file in such a way that the accuracy of the rulings could be debated.

Zadorov in court, photo: Jill Eliyahu/Gini

As a result of the storm, other sections of the public also showed great interest in the case of Tair Rada's murder.

Thus, great pressure was created, which eventually led the accused to a retrial.

One can of course recall the case of Amos Burns (who was convicted of murder in 1976 and sentenced to life imprisonment and due to deficiencies in the case his sentence was shortened), or Demjaniuk's acquittal in the 1980s.

Such cases haunt the attorney's office and may create trauma and concerns.

But there is nothing between such legal events and the explosive political issue of the Levin reform, even if there are those who would like to connect the two things.

It is a fact that the prosecutor's office itself is defending itself.

In a normal public situation, war games and simulations would not be conducted in case of acquittal.

State Attorney General's Office, photo: Oren Ben Hakon

signs of negligence

Of course, if there is an acquittal in Zadorov's retrial, it will strengthen those demanding the establishment of a strong audit body for the State Attorney's Office.

But if it is a question of public trust, the fact is that in this rare case the legal system picked up on the rumors from the media and the lawyers and was ready to check itself.

There is a legal system in Israel, sometimes there are signs of negligence.

But it is impossible to take cases like the Zadorov case and use them to try to undermine the public's trust in the legal proceedings.

The lessons are good for all systems in Israel;

Systems of this type must not be turned into a sealed wall, as they sometimes try to build.

A sealed wall will eventually collapse.

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Source: israelhayom

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