Israel's Olmert arrives at prison to begin 19-month sentence

[webfact]

Israel's Olmert arrives at prison to begin 19-month sentence
TIA GOLDENBERG, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has arrived at the prison where he is to begin serving a 19-month sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice.

Olmert is the first Israeli prime minister to serve time in prison. TV footage showed Olmert walking into the Maasiyahu prison in central Israel on Monday.

The 70-year-old Olmert was convicted in March 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a controversial real-estate project in Jerusalem. The charges pertained to a period when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade minister, years before he became prime minister in 2006.

Olmert's seven-year legal saga undermined the last serious round of Mideast peace talks and propelled hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-02-15

[retarius]

Why can't it be Netanyahu? Please let it be Netanyahu…and stick him in a cell with that thief from Malaysia.

[wabothai]

And the 2nd one will be BN in a cell in The Hague.

[Jingthing]

A very small nation with a very big dream.

A strong sign of a vibrant democracy when a PM faces prison like that.

Israel is like that. One of the first nation's in the world with a female highest leader, the amazing Golda Meir.

This is a sadder story but how many of us can say it would ever happen in OUR countries.