The High Court of Justice ruled Thursday morning that the Winograd Commission testimonies of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ,Defense Minister Amir Peretz andformer IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz mustbe made public before Passover and the release of the interim report.
Additionally, the judges criticized the commission for not yet having published any of the testimonies although the decision to do so was made six weeks ago. This conduct, they said, was verging on contempt of court.
Justice Ayala Procaccia said that out of respect for the commission, she and her colleagues had not issued a formal court order at the time, but they had issued clear instructions to the commission.
The timetable presented by the Winograd Commission for the testimonies' publication must now be seen as a binding document, the judges ruled.
Several days ago, Ynet reported that in response to a petition filed by Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On, the commission stated that they intended to make the protocols of the key testimonies public before releasing the interim report.
A week ago, the commission announced that the interim report would include conclusions about the individual conduct of Olmert, Peretz and Halutz in the running of the Second Lebanon War.