Last update - 00:00 14/01/2007
Knesset panel okays bill to nix statute of limitations on PM murder
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset ministerial committee for legislative affairs on Sunday approved in a preliminary reading a bill to abolish the statute of limitations currently in place with regard to the assassination of a prime minister.
If approved in later readings by the Knesset, the bill would allow the assassin of a prime minister to be tried before a court years after the crime.
The bill, which was proposed by MK Zvi Hendel (National Union), will be brought before the Knesset plenum for a preliminary reading within the coming days.
According to the existing statute of limitations a murder suspect can't be tried if 20 or more years have passed since the crime was committed.
The statute of limitations on a given crime is specified by the Penal Law and is contigent upon the severity of the crime. Some crimes, such as Nazi war crimes, are not subject to a statute of limitations.
"At the very least regarding the statute of limitations, the suggestion is that in the case of the murder of a prime minister, the culprit will not evade the law simply because of the amount of time that passed since the date of the crime," said Hendel.