Court rejects petition to cancel ex-MK's reduced sentence - Haaretz

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Thu., August 09, 2007 Av 25, 5767

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Last update - 19:47 09/08/2007

Court rejects petition to cancel ex-MK's reduced sentence

By Haaretz Service

The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition by a watchdog group which requested the court cancel the reduced sentence handed down to former Likud MK Naomi Blumenthal.

The reduced sentence given by the High Court is to include community service and a suspended sentence instead of jail time, in keeping with the decision made by President Shimon Peres to commute the former MK's jail sentence.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel (MQGI) claims Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann's recommendation to sweeten the former Likud lawmaker's sentence played a critical role in Peres' decision and that it unfairly discriminated against others convicted under similar circumstances.

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Lawyers on behalf of the MQGI asked the court to issue a temporary injunction against the president's decision until a hearing is held over the matter.

If the presidential commute is approved, Blumenthal will be required to perform community service instead of serving an eight-month prison term.

In March 2006, Blumenthal was sentenced to eight months in jail and 10 months suspended sentence and was fined NIS 75,000 after she was convicted of bribery.

Blumenthal hosted 15 Likud activists and central committee members and their spouses in the Ramat Gan City Tower hotel before the December 2002 party primaries, in a bid to win votes ahead of the elections

Blumenthal arranged for her driver to pay for the lodging, valued at NIS 12,000, so that the payment would not be traced back to her.

She was also convicted of disrupting legal proceedings and a police investigation, after she encouraged witnesses to give false testimony to police.

Late last March, the court decided to reject her appeal for a reduced sentence. In their decision to reject Blumenthal's appeal, the judges noted that after her offenses had been exposed, she conspired to compile a false statement to mislead the court: "The appellant insisted that witnesses deliver false versions to the police, which they indeed went on to do."

In July, Peres ruled that Blumenthal's sentence should include only six months of community service and a 12 month suspended sentence, while the fine was left unchanged.

In his ruling, Peres cited the recommendations of Justice Minister Daniel Friedman, and Knesset Speaker Dahlia Itzik, who held the president's post until Peres was elected to the position.

Peres weighed several other considerations in his decision to reduce Blumenthal's sentence, including the recent death of her husband, Professor Michael Blumenthal and a letter of remorse for her deeds penned by Blumenthal.

Many notable public figures, such as former president Yitzhak Navon, supported Friedmann's recommendation to commute Blumenthal's sentence. For her part, Blumenthal did not seek to overturn her conviction, opting to acknowledge her guilt and appeal for a lighter sentence. In her defense, Blumenthal noted she had a clean criminal record and her offense was a one-time occurrence. She also stressed that the court did not describe her offense as aggravated.

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