The prosecution demanded today (Monday) that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was convicted of accepting bribes in the Holyland affair, be sentenced to five to seven years in prison and a fine of 1.2 million shekels, for one of the bribery offenses for which he was convicted.
For another bribery offense, the prosecution demanded that the former prime minister be sentenced to two to four years in prison. The prosecution wants Olmert's sentence to be placed in the middle. That is, at least six years, with agreement to a partial overlap between the two sentences.
The sentencing arguments phase in the Holyland trial opened this morning in the Tel Aviv District Court: The ten convicts in the Holyland case are huddled on the defendants' benches in the courtroom of Tel Aviv District Court Judge David Rosen, to hear the sentencing arguments at the end of a dramatic trial.
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The prosecution will demand that former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert be sentenced to several years in prison. The prosecution declined to specify the number of years in prison they will request, but estimates suggest that it will be four years or more.
""The severity of these acts of the defendants is devastating," said the prosecutor in the case. "The punishment should resonate, deter and warn in order to root out the wrong norms that have taken root." According to him, the very fact that the bribe-givers turned to the state witness to fulfill their wishes is the act that deserves punishment. "The citizen sees that people who have money in their pockets are given an open door in the minister's office, while he is forced to run around the corridors of bureaucracy. This is a danger for the fabric of life to disintegrate.".
During the hearing, the defendants in the case brought character witnesses in their favor, except for the former prime minister and Danny Dankner, who declined to testify. However, Olmert's defense team presented letters of support to the judge.
Raanana Mayor, former MK Zeev Bielsky, testified in favor of former Mayor Uri Lupoliansky, who was convicted of accepting a bribe. "He's a man who doesn't know how to say 'no.' When you ask him for something, he says 'yes' first," he said.
Dr. Shlomit Hovav-Bach, a dentist during whose treatment Uri Lupoliansky's grandson died, also came forward to testify in his favor. "That's how my life and his intersected, through this tragedy," she said. Hovav-Bach was taken for questioning by the police after the child's death, and said that she was "at the lowest place possible. I didn't want to live, but the things the Lupoliansky family told me on 'Shiva', and the messages I received from them were of encouragement and support. They simply saved my life. If today I am a contributing citizen, a mother of five children - I owe my life to Uri.".
The defendants in the dock are divided into two groups. The first group includes public officials who took bribes: Ehud Olmert; former Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky; city engineer Uri Sheetrit, and city council members Eliezer Shamchiof and Avraham Feiner. This group also includes Shula Zaken, Olmert's chief of staff for decades.
The second group includes businessmen and entrepreneurs Hillel Charny and Avigdor Kelner; former banker Danny Dankner, and realtor Meir Rabin.
So far, no decision has been made on whether to hold the hearing behind closed doors regarding the arguments for the sentence of Shula Zaken, Olmert's former secretary, who was convicted of accepting bribes and money laundering and who signed a deal with the prosecution. The prosecution requested that Zaken's hearing be separated from Olmert's, in order to present to Judge Rosen new investigative materials that Zaken provided in her testimony to the police, as part of the agreement. Judge Rosen announced at the time of the verdict that he did not intend to approve the agreement immediately, and only after he is exposed to the materials provided by Zaken will he decide whether this is indeed a "stable cleaning" that justifies signing the agreement.
The sentencing arguments phase is usually a short legal phase, but due to the large number of defendants, it will most likely not end today.
In any case, Judge David Rosen has already stated that the verdict will be given only a few days after the end of this phase.
Arguments for Shula Zaken's sentence were postponed for two weeks.
