Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin
Photo: Dana Koppel
Shin Bet revolution: External comptroller to review complaints
Security agency's comptroller will now be attached to Justice Ministry, answer to Justice Ministry's director general
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein revealed on Tuesday that the Shin Bet's comptroller department, which until now worked from within the Shin Bet, will now be attached to the Justice Ministry and will answer to the Justice Ministry's director general on both an administrative and organizational level.
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The decision was made over the past few days and has received the support of Shin Bet Director Yuval Diskin, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador, and Justice Ministry Director General Guy Rotkopf.
Until recently, all complaints launched by interrogees against interrogators in the Shin Bet were handled by the Shin Bet complaints comptroller, who has always been an employee of the security service and was subject to the State Prosecution and the Attorney General's office.
The complaint investigations were handed over to those offices, which would then decide whether to open a case based on the complaints they received or not, without any Shin Bet intervention.
According to the announcement, a decision was made to transfer the authority of those investigating the complaints because "in spite of steps taken to ensure the independence of the investigation, and its fairness, over the years questions were raised over the situation created by having a Shin Bet employee investigating complaints against his colleagues."
Yet the announcement stressed that "though there may be better responses to those questions, in order to prevent loss of public faith in the institution, the Shin Bet complaints comptroller would move under the Justice Ministry's jurisdiction – an organization independent of the Shin Bet.
In the upcoming months the administrative and organizational issues will be arranged ahead of the transfer of the Shin Bet comptroller under the wing of the Justice Ministry and someone will be chosen to fulfill the comptroller role.
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