MK Amsalem submits bill preventing state from appealing sentences
Coalition chairman proposes law meant to unable State Attorney's Office to appeal incarceration sentencesof up to 10 years, saying state's resources are 'extremely higher than those of the defendants;' opposition members criticize bill, saying it is meant to keep Prime Minister Netanyahu in power.
Amsalem justified the bill, saying that "a moral country shouldn't persecute citizens who were given light punishments."
MK Amsalem proposes to determine that the right to appeal criminal offenses' verdicts will be only given to the defendant.
"The state, which is the one that prosecutes with criminal offenses, will have a limited and restricted ability to appeal unusual and severe cases whose sentence is the death penalty or more than 10 years in prison... The state's right to appeal will be restricted since as a prosecutor it is extremely powerful in comparison to the defendant, both in resources and authorities given to it by the law," Amsalem explained.
According to the bill, research performed in Israel shows the prosecution controls the legal procedure and the state's chances to succeed appealing criminal cases are very high in comparison the defendant's chances.
"Conviction rates are particularly high in Israel (in accordance with the state's resources in comparison to the ones of the defendant)," the bill stated.
Amsalem says another reason to limit the state's right to appeal stems from the "double risk" principle according to which a person cannot be put at risk of an additional procedure after the previous one on the same matter had ended.
"One can consider the end of the first proceeding in which the court 'has spoken' and came to a judicial decision as a turning point from which the defendant cannot be put at double risk, excluding unusual cases," the coalition chairman went on to say.
Amsalem's proposal provoked the opposition's criticism. Meretz Chairwoman Tamar Zandberg said, "The obsessive coalition's occupation with the law enforcement authorities, in order to protect a prime minister who is up to his neck with criminal investigations, is a disgrace to the Israeli democracy.
"For this political agenda, they (the coalition) are prepared to pass a bill restricting the State Attorney's Office's ability to appeal severe offense such as sexual harassment," she went on to say.
Yesh Atid lawkaer Karin Elharar described the bill as "another personal bill meant to serve the prime minister.
"It is regretful that instead of thinking of legislation that regulates the rights of the public, serious efforts are being made to enact laws that benefit MKs and Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu in particular," she
said.
"This bill embarrasses the Knesset, lacks legal logic and serves no use to the public," she concluded.
MK Yoel Hasson, chairman of the Zionist Union faction, said "David Amsalem is responsible for Netanyahu's custom-made bills.
"Amsalem is Netanyahu's personal messenger who sacrifices himself to enable the prime minister to keep avoiding a decision regarding his legal matters. This is not the way an MK should behave," he went on to say.
"Amsalem is an example of a government looking out only for its own survival, and it should go home," he determined.
