Friedmann signs off on clemency for pullout dissidents
Justice Ministry, Public Defender's Office agree to have 40 non-violent dissidence cases opened during 2005 Gaza pullout closed. 'Acts were prompted by an unusual event,' says ministry
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann submitted a brief to President Shimon Peres Thursday, recommending some 40 cases involving men and women convicted, or facing charges, for various acts of dissidence committed during the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip, be closed.
According to a similar brief, filed with the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, only those who have committed one offense, have no previous criminal record and did not endanger others by their acts, would be eligible to have their convictions stricken from the record, or the charges against them dropped.
The decision to essentially grant the pardon, said the Justice Ministry, stemmed from "the understanding that the acts were prompted by an unusual historical event and that the perpetrators are not felons."
The unusual move was brought before the Justice Ministry by the Public Defender's Office, whose research into the 300 cases opened during the disengagement – preformed with the cooperation and support of the Justice Ministry's Clemency Division – indicated that the majority of the cases will eventually be closed.
Head of the Public Defender's Office Inbal Rubinstein met with Deputy Attorney-General Shai Nitzan and several other Justice Ministry officials on the matter in late 2007 and both sides began formulating the guidelines under which the motions to have the convictions and charges quashed would be filed.
