Last update - 00:00 15/07/2007
Omri Sharon will not start jail time as planned, to appeal sentence
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
The Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the start of former MK Omri Sharon's prison sentence, which he was supposed to start serving next Sunday, be postponed.
Sharon was sentenced to seven months imprisonment for a series of charges related to his father's 1999 primaries campaign, including fictitious registration of corporate documents, lying under oath and violations of the election code.
The postponement comes after Sharon requested permission to appeal the sentence and put a hold on his jail time until the appeal is heard.
Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran agreed to the request, and called for the delay in the beginning of Sharon's sentence "until another decision is delivered." Joubran has demanded the state respond to Sharon's appeal request within 60 days.
The Tel Aviv District Court convicted Sharon in 2005. In February of the following year, the court sentenced Sharon to nine months in jail and an NIS 300,000 fine.
The setence was handed down just several weeks after Sharon's father, former prime minister Ariel Sharon, fell into a coma following a debilitating stroke.
Sharon appealed the sentence, which was shortened by two months at the end of last month. He is seeking another appeal because he does not have the opportunity to replace his jail time with community service, an option that is given consideration only for sentences of up to six months.
In the appeal, Sharon's attorney, Dan Sheinman, says that the court ignored in its ruling the problematic nature of the elections code in its incarnation at the time of the offenses. He also said that Sharon has taken responsibility for his actions and has admitted to the charges in his indictment.
Sheinman added that the court should have taken into consideration the fact that his mother, Lily, fell ill the year Sharon committed the offenses.