Next Hearing for Netanyahu to Be Held in Dec. – With His Presence

YERUSHALAYIM
Lawyers are seen ahead of the hearing in the corruption trial against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the District Court in Yerushalayim, July 19. (Marc Israel/Pool via REuters)

The next hearing in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s case will take place on December 6 and will deal with preliminary arguments. This is what emerged Sunday from the State Attorney’s Office’s response to the Ilovich couple’s claims that it withheld information from them. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be present at the hearing.

At the hearing all the defendants will be required to answer the question of whether they confess in the indictment or not and then the hearing will continue with preliminary arguments. Netanyahu’s attorney, Yossi Segev, is expected to argue for the dismissal of the indictment. At last week’s hearing he had already said he would consider claiming it.

Meanwhile, the prosecution rejected Shaul and Iris Ilovich’s allegations of concealing investigative materials or a deliberate action designed to prevent them from reviewing the materials. The prosecution’s response stated that all the material had been transferred to them, and that their request was proof that they had received all the material, because that was how they found discrepancies between the transcript and the recording. The transcript was made by an external company and the omissions are due to a misunderstanding of the transcript that is not related to the police, the prosecutor’s office said.

The second hearing in the Netanyahu trial took place last week, in which the head of the panel, Judge Rivka Friedman-Feldman, ruled that the evidentiary hearings at the trial will take place three times a week, beginning in January 2021. It turns out that an earlier hearing will be held in early December.

Netanyahu’s new lawyer, Yossi Segev, called for a six-month postponement of the trial and explained that the reason was, among other things, the coronavirus. “I can’t question witnesses like that when I’m wearing a mask,” he said. The judge replied: “Are you proposing to stop the hearings?”

Shaul Ilovich came to the hearing even though he was not required to be present. His lawyer, Michal Rosen-Ozer, asked to discuss the meeting that took place between Ilovich and his son, and claimed that Or Ilovich had been pressured to turn his father into a state witness. Attorney Rosen Ozer added that “the prosecution tried to hide investigative materials from us. It is impossible to set a date for the beginning of the evidence.”

 

 

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