The Administrative Court in Beersheba revoked a man's citizenship, as it was obtained based on false information about his criminal history.
In addition, the court denied his family members the right to citizenship - which they received by virtue of his status.
The decision was made after the Population and Immigration Authority, through attorney Shiral Ben Harosh of the Southern District Attorney's Office, submitted to the court a request to revoke the citizenship of a person who received citizenship under the Law of Return - after he lied during an interview to receive citizenship and claimed that he had divorced his second wife, even though he was convicted of her murder and served a long term in prison.
The court's decision indicates that during 2021, the immigrant received citizenship by virtue of being the grandson of a Jew. Due to his eligibility for citizenship, his wife, her children, and their joint children also received legal status in the country.
The immigrant received the eligibility after, during a citizenship investigation conducted in his home country, he stated that he had previously been married for about two years and divorced without children.
After receiving citizenship and arriving in Israel, it was discovered that the man had murdered his second wife and buried her in their yard. He was convicted of murder for this and served a long prison sentence in his home country.
After the truth about his past was revealed, the advisory committee recommended to the Minister of the Population Authority to revoke his citizenship and the status of his family members - who received their status by virtue of his citizenship. The Minister of the Interior accepted the recommendation and decided to revoke the citizenship and status of the family members.
In light of the period of time that has passed since the date of receiving citizenship, this application was submitted to the court in order to give validity to the Minister's decision.
During the arguments in court, Attorney Ben Harush noted: "The purpose of the authority to revoke citizenship acquired on the basis of false information is to preserve and protect the sovereignty of the state and its laws.".
She added: "A ground for revoking citizenship based on false information exists when the acquirer of citizenship based the application on false information, and this information led causally to the decision to grant citizenship. The respondent, in contrast to the information available to the applicant, made contradictory claims and admitted that he did not state that he had a criminal record, because he wanted to mislead the authority in order to obtain status and feared that his criminal record would constitute an obstacle for him.".
The Deputy President of the District Court, Judge Yoel Eden, accepted the position of the prosecution: "More than necessary, it should be said that an administrative authority grants a right, and it turns out that the right was granted following deception, falsehood and fraud committed by the recipient of the right, then the administrative authority itself has the authority to revoke that right that was granted...".
Regarding the claim that family members will remain stateless, Judge Eden noted that the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness allows for the denial of citizenship that was obtained through misrepresentation or fraud.
In light of the above, the court approved the decision to revoke the respondent's citizenship and, as a result, the status of his family members who received status by virtue of his entitlement.
The statement from the Attorney General's Office stated: "The Population and Immigration Authority acted throughout the entire procedure in a thorough and in-depth manner. The authority held interviews to clarify the circumstances of obtaining citizenship, collected relevant information and examined all documents and data presented, including information collected after citizenship was granted.".
""Her arguments were presented in an orderly manner and with due care for the correctness of the administrative procedure. These actions contributed to the formulation of the professional recommendation regarding the revocation of the citizenship and status granted to the respondent and his family members.".
""This decision joins the decision of Administrative Court Judge Eliyahu Bitan to accept the request of the Population and Immigration Authority to revoke the citizenship of Pakhomov Friedland Olesia, who received her citizenship after presenting a forged document stating that her grandmother's mother was Jewish.".
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