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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Holyland-II-Where-are-Jud-by-Joseph-Zernik-Bribery-Influence-Peddling_Israel_Judicial-Corruption-150321-607.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
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March 21, 2015
Holyland II: Where are Judge Rosen's Verdict and Sentence records of former PM Olmert corruption?
By Joseph Zernik
The Holyland corruption scandal originated in bribes taken by former PM Olmert. Israeli media reported a year ago that Olmert was convicted and sentence to a 6 year prison term, of which he hasn't served so far a day. Overnight, Judge David Rosen became a national hero in the war on government corruption. However, the Verdict and Sentence records are nowhere to be found...
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The Holyland corruption scandal originated in bribes taken by former PM Olmert. Israeli media reported a year ago that Olmert was convicted and sentence to a 6 year prison term, of which he hasn't served so far a day. Overnight, Judge David Rosen became a national hero in the war on government corruption. However, the Verdict and Sentence records are nowhere to be found... The case again demonstrates the fraud in design and operation of the Israeli courts IT system -- Net-HaMishpat. Corruption of the courts and the legal profession is a central cause of the socio-economic and political conditions in Israel today.
Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his secretary Shula Zaken on the background of the monstrous Holyland complex, building of which was enabled though bribing by developers; Judge David Rosen of the Tel-Aviv District Court
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OccupyTLV, March 21 - Joseph Zernik, PhD, of Human Rights Alert (NGO) has filed a request to inspect and to copy court records in former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Holyland corruption trial. [1] The request pertains to duly executed Verdict and Sentence records of former PM Ehud Olmert and his secretary Shula Zaken.
In Israel, public access to court records is extremely restricted, and a request must be filed with the judge, presiding in the case, to inspect court records.
Israeli media extensively covered the case all along. In March through June, 2014, media reported that Olmert was convicted and sentenced to a six year prison term, of which he hasn't served a day so far. Overnight, Judge David Rosen became a national hero in the war on government corruption in Israel. [2]
However, as usual, Israeli media reports were based on pronouncements by Judge David Rosen in open court, with no supporting records. That, even after the Israeli Ombudsman of the Judiciary in his 2012 report documented that Israeli judges today do not consider their own pronouncements of decisions and judgments in open court binding.
Review of public court records in this case in Net-HaMishpat - the new IT system of the Israeli courts - failed to discover any duly executed Verdict or Sentence records for either former PM Olmert or his personal secretary Zaken. [3] Regardless of the extreme restrictions on public access, verdict and sentence records are public records in Israeli law. However, in this case, in contrast with other criminal cases of Judge David Rosen, no duly executed verdict or sentence records were discovered for either Olmert or Zaken.
Missing court records are a cardinal sign of court corruption, particularly so in a criminal prosecution, here -- verdict and sentencing in a case of the highest public policy significance.
The "Judgments" section in Net-HaMishpat -- IT system of the Israeli courts -- in State of Israel v Zerni et al, criminal prosecution of the Holyland corruption scandal. Three records appear in the list:
a) 2014-05-13 Judge Rosen's Sentencing of Olmert and most other Defendants -- is an unsigned record, which is docketed as "Instruction to the Prison Authority to provide opinion re: Avraham Feiner".
b) 2014-06-09 Judge Rosen's Sentencing of Avraham Feiner, which was separately rendered -- is docketed under "Judgments" as "Instruction to Supervisor of the Prison Authority to provide an updated opinion re: Avraham Feiner".
c) 2014-06-19 Judge Rosen's Sentencing of Uri Lupoliansky, which was separately rendered -- is docketed under "Judgments" as "Sentencing by Judge David Rosen".
Nowhere to be found among public court records in this case is a valid record of verdict or sentencing for former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
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It should be noted, that identifying judgment records in the Israeli courts is uniquely tricky today:
* In a recent Supreme Court decision, Justice Noam Solberg again pronounced that a court record, titled "Judgment" is not necessarily a judgment... [4]
* In response to a recent Freedom of Information request, the Administration of Courts refused to answer: [5]
-- Who is authorized to register court decisions under the "Judgments" section in Net-HaMishpat?
-- Does the registration of a "Judgment" record under the "Judgments" section in Net-HaMishpat indicate that it is indeed a "Judgment"?
The perverted court records in the Holyland corruption scandal court file must raise serious concerns regarding integrity of the prosecution in this case - one of the highest public policy significance.
Review of court records in this case also provides additional evidence of the large-scale fraud in design and operation of Net-HaMishpat - the IT system of the Israeli courts.
The 2013 Human Rights Report of the UN Human Rights Council on Israel incorporated the Human Rights Alert submission with the note: "Lack of integrity in the electronic records of the Supreme Court, the District Courts, and the Detainees courts in Israel". [6] The submission documented the implementation of fraudulent IT systems in the Israeli courts over the past decade.
The same period was marked by unprecedented swell in corruption of government and the justice system, [7] including evidence of corruption directly linked to Prime Minister Netanyahu, which justice agencies refuse to investigate. [8] In February 2015, an OECD delegation arrived in Israel to investigate performance of government, justice, and media in Israel, relative to Israel's compliance with the "OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials". [9]
The same period was also marked by an unprecedented increase in poverty, which propelled Israel to first place in poverty among OECD nations. [8]
An academic paper, titled "Fraudulent new IT systems of the Israeli courts - unannounced regime change?" was accepted for publication and presentation, following international, anonymous peer-review in ECEG 2015 - an upcoming international computer science conference on government IT systems. [10]
As is the case in the United States, corruption of the courts and the legal profession is a central cause of socio-economic and political conditions in Israel today.
LINKS:
[1] 2015-03-16 State of Israel v Zerni (10291-01-12) in the Tel-Aviv District Court: Request to inspect judgments
https://www.scribd.com/doc/258925170/
[2] 2014-05-17 ISRAEL: Tel-Aviv courtroom drama exposes new evidence of organized crime in highest levels of government in Israel
2015-03-01 Media reports of sentencing and prison terms in the Holyland corruption scandal, involving former PM Olmert
https://www.scribd.com/doc/257296016/
[3] 2015-03-01 State of Israel v Zerni (10291-01-12) in the Tel-Aviv District Court: Holyland corruption scandal, former PM Olmert, and Judge Rosen: Net-Hamishpat records -- public access, remote terminal
https://www.scribd.com/doc/257431369/
[4] 2014-10-30 Judgment in Aviva Brauda v Gadi Ferber (3233/14) in the Israeli Supreme Court, Justice Noam Solberg: "Distinction whether a judicial record is a "Judgment", "other decision", is not necessarily made, as is well established, based on its title..."
[5] 2015-01-04 FOIA Request on the Administration of Courts ( פ - 7/2015) RE: IT system Net-HaMishpat
https://www.scribd.com/doc/256375395/
2015-03-04 FOIA Response by the Administration of Courts ( פ - 7/2015) RE: IT system Net-HaMishpat -- no records available
https://www.scribd.com/doc/257685194/
[6] 2013-01-01 The Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission, as incorporated into the UN Human Rights Council UPR report with the note "Lack of integrity in the electronic records of the Supreme Court, the district courts and the detainees courts in Israel" (page 4, paragraph 25)
http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G12/180/12/PDF/G1218012.pdf?OpenElement
The Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission (2013) for the Universal Periodic Review of israel by the UN Human Rights Council, as it appears on the UN web site
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session15/IL/HRA_UPR_ISR_S15_2012_HumanRightsAlert_E.pdf
[7] 2013-09-07 Israel among most corrupt of OECD countries_Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Israel-among-most-corrupt-of-OECD-countries-319315
2014-05-17 ISRAEL: Tel-Aviv courtroom drama exposes new evidence of organized crime in highest levels of government in Israel
2014-02-27 ISRAEL: War hero Moti Ashkenazi+76 others versus the medieval debtors' courts_OpEdNews.com
2014-01-03 ISRAEL: Large-scale Fraud in the Supreme Court's Office of the Clerk
[8] 2014-11-09 Israeli Ombudsman refuses to accept whistle-blower complaint against PM Netanyahu - smuggling, murder of a "source"_OpEdNews.com
[9] 2015-02-01 OECD examines performance of government in Israel - the justice system and media - in bribing and corruption affairs - compliance with the Convention on Combating Bribery [Hebrew only]
http://www.themarker.com/news/macro/1.2554123
[10] 2014-04-16 Startup Israel Suffering Most OECD Poverty as Poor Surge_Bloomberg
[10] 2015-01-10 Zernik, J. "Fraudulent New IT Systems of the Israeli Courts - Unannounced Regime Change? " ECEG 2015 - in press
https://www.scribd.com/doc/252258857/
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Joseph Zernik, PhD
Human Rights Alert (NGO)
OccupyTLV
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* The Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations was incorporated into the 2010 Periodic Review Report regarding Human Rights in the United States, with the note: "corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California".
* The Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations was incorporated into the 2013 Periodic Review Report regarding Human Rights in Israel, with the note: "lack of integrity of the electronic records of the Supreme Court, the district courts and the detainees courts in Israel."
* The Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission to the Human Rights Council for the 2015 Periodic Review of Human Rights in the US is titled: "Large-scale fraud in IT systems of the US federal courts: Unannounced regime change?" to be reviewed Jan 2015.
Authors Website: https://www.scribd.com/Human_Rights_Alert
Authors Bio:
Dr Zernik's core research pertains to e-government and its significance for Human Rights and Civil Society.
His work won appreciation in Israel and abroad:
* Prof Uzzi Ornan - "All power to you! I hope that you see your tremendous efforts reach fruition!"
* Attorney Avigdor Feldman - "In my opinion you are doing very important work" thank you for your thorough and persistent work".
* Prof Amnon Shashua, Mobileye Co-founder - "" very important work".
* International experts, as part of anonymous peer-review - "" challenges current concepts in the field".
Four submissions, which he authored on behalf of Human Rights Alert - NGO, were incorporated into UN Human Rights Council Periodic Reports regarding the US or Israel (2010, 2013, 2015, 2018). His research has been presented and published in international academic conferences, including Data Mining (2010), Criminology (2012), E-government (2015, 2017), and were also cited in a textbook on "Machine Learning".
Online updated version: http://www.scribd.com/doc/46421113/