The legal battle surrounding the detention of Bezalel Zini, the brother of the Shin Bet chief, continued on Wednesday when the Southern District Prosecutor’s Office filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the decision of the Be’er Sheva District Court to release him to house arrest.
The decision to release him was made on Tuesday, but the court ordered that its implementation be delayed until a ruling on the appeal is issued.
Zini has been detained for months under shocking conditions as part of the investigation into a smuggling affair involving cigarettes and goods to the Gaza Strip during the war. According to the indictment, he was involved in the scheme together with other suspects and is charged, among other offenses, with aiding the enemy during wartime.
During the hearing at the District Court, Judge Alon Gabizon ruled that Zini and the four other suspects still in custody were not guilty of aiding the enemy. In a previous hearing, Gabizon blasted the prosecutors for the charge, saying, “How can people be accused of aiding the enemy while the state itself aids the enemy? You went too far.”
The judge even asked the prosecution’s representative: “If it is determined that he committed the acts attributed to him, does a person in his position truly endanger state security while under house arrest?”
He added that the case should be examined proportionally and in light of the defendant’s personal circumstances.
Zini’s attorney, Adv. Asaf Klein, argued that his client is “at the bottom of the hierarchy” of those involved in the affair and that he is accused of only three smuggling incidents. According to the defense, Zini has no criminal record, and since the outbreak of the war he has been serving voluntarily in the reserves in a special unit.
The defense requested that he be released to house arrest at his home in the yishuv of Ofra, under the supervision of his wife and additional guarantors.
(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)
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One Response
He wanted to make money off of the black market and not pay taxes. Hmmm… why is this so shocking? So the people writing these articles think that everyone is a good guy?