Attorneys Moshe Mazor, Roi Belcher and Eli Zohar, members of the legal team representing Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto have decided to step down. They submitted their request to be relieved of their role as defense attorneys to the Tel Aviv District Court in the hope of resigning from the case. They explain the main reason for their decision is one condition of the agreement, which prohibits the rabbis from speaking to the media.
The rabbi signed a plea bargain agreement about two weeks ago in which he agreed to become a state witness in the case against retired Israel Police Major-General Menashe Arbiv. The agreement required the rabbi to admit to his guilt involving a bribe given to Israel Police Major-General Ephraim Bracha as well as attempted bribery and tampering with an investigation charges. In return the state will only ask the rabbi to serve a year imprisonment and the rav will try to persuade the court to agree to a punishment that does not include actual prison time.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
It is misleading to report that the attorneys requested to resign due to a ‘condition of the agreement, which prohibits the rabbis from speaking to the media’. They requested to resign because the rav blatantly breached the terms of his plea bargain.
In Israel, once you have confessed and entered into a plea bargain which grants you a reduced sentence you are no longer permitted to claim that you are innocent. The rav and his rebbitzen have done just that, attempting to have their cake and to eat it too: the rav signed the plea bargain admitting his guilt before the court in return for a greatly reduced sentence and then turned around and claimed to the public that he was innocent – in direct violation of his plea bargain, which his attorneys had worked for months to get him at his request.