Last update - 00:00 18/12/2007
State Prosecutor urges officials to speak up in probes into IDF
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
New State Prosecutor Moshe Lador took office Monday and promptly urged that more be done to prevent public figures from exercising their right to remain silent during investigations.
"In cases involving public figures, alongside the right to remain silent, it is necessary to bolster the obligation to speak and to give explanations," he told a changing of the guard ceremony at the Justice Ministry in Jerusalem. "Society would benefit from this."
Lador praised the quality of the prosecution, but acknowledged that it also had weaknesses. "Many people today feel that there is increasing crime and weak enforcement, and both things may be true," he said.
And this has serious consequences, he continued: Lax enforcement encourages more people to commit crimes, and then "even the stigma that should be attached to criminals is not seen as such, because everyone is doing the same thing."
Outgoing state prosecutor Eran Shendar stressed that unless the police, prosecution and courts were given higher budgets and more staff, it would be impossible to improve the enforcement situation.
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