The judges hearing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's criminal trial may be steering toward ending the proceedings entirely, public law expert Dr. Yaakov Ben Shemesh said ahead of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's expected appearance in court.
Ben Shemesh, a senior lecturer at Ono Academic College, discussed the significance of the attorney general's summons in an interview with Mati Tuchfeld on the program "Yoman HaTzohorayim," the midday news show. He said it reflected recent developments in the courtroom.
According to Ben Shemesh, the move follows directly from the testimony of former Attorney General Dr. Avichai Mandelblit, which he called damaging to the prosecution. "This comes after very difficult and embarrassing testimony, from the prosecution's standpoint, by the attorney general who preceded her, Avichai Mandelblit," he said on air.
Ben Shemesh said he believes the judges' message to the attorney general will go beyond striking the bribery charge in Case 4000, a step the panel has proposed in the past. In his view, the judges are considering a broader move to close all the cases by accepting an abuse of process claim. This is a legal doctrine under which a court can cancel an indictment or acquit a defendant when the prosecution's conduct is fundamentally unfair.
