Last update - 00:00 19/04/2007
Court: Winograd Committee must release key testimonies 2 weeks after interim report
By Yuval Yoaz and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents
The High Court of Justice on Thursday accepted the schedule proposed by the Winograd Committee for the release of the partial testimonies of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and former chief of staff Dan Halutz on the Second Lebanon War.
In response to a petition by Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On, who demanded the testimony be made public immediately, the court ruled that the Winograd Committee must release the testimonies within two weeks of the release of the panel's interim report on the war.
The ruling was issued by a five-justice panel headed by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, following a state request to expand the number of justices hearing the case.
The panel unanimously approved Gal-On's request to issue a court order obligating the panel to publish the testimonies, but accepted the schedule proposed by the Winograd Committee on Sunday.
The interim report is expected to come out at the end of the month, and therefore the release of the testimonies is expected in mid-May.
The Winograd Committee released a statement thanking the court for allowing it to continue investing its efforts in formulating its interim report, and promised to meet the timetable approved by the court. Sources in the committee expressed satisfaction with the ruling.
"We reiterate our opinion, that the committee would be wise to publish the testimonies as closely as possible to the release of the interim report, before the two weeks have passed," wrote the justices, given the previous delays that "were not justified."
Beinisch said the primary reason the court did not instruct the committee to immediately release the testimonies was to avoid a further delay in the release of the interim report.
Beinisch stressed that releasing the testimony after the interim report would not cause any significant harm to "the public's ability to critique the committee's work and conclusions."
Justice Ayala Procaccia wrote as the sole dissenting opinion that the Winograd Committee should immediately publish all testimonies that are ready for release, including those of Olmert, Peretz, and Halutz.
Procaccia emphasized that the committee should have released the testimonies a long time ago, but did not do so, and therefore "strayed from judicial instructions ... without any justification."
Gal-On had said prior to the ruling that "it is of critical importance that the protocols be released before the interim report is presented, in order to allow for false testimony to be refuted." said Gal-On prior to the ruling.
The chairman of the war probe committee, retired judge Eliyahu Winograd, had said in written response to Gal-On's petition that he objects to the release of the transcripts on the grounds that it would impair the committee's ability to function and might delay the publication of the interim report.
"Should the court rule in favor of the petition, it would force the committee to act against its discretion, binding it to a timetable it cannot keep," Winograd wrote.
The court had previously ordered the committee to release the protocols before the publication of its final report, following an earlier petition by Gal-On. Only later did the MK ask for the release of the transcripts before the interim report.