A judge has gone on a voluntary extended leave of absence since being accused allegedly beating his children, a court spokesperson said.
The senior judge has been reportedly beating his children for years and is under
investigation, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday.
The police have sought
to interrogate the judge as part of their investigation for some time, but until
now have been rebuffed by Attorney-General Weinstein, since a judge
cannot be interrogated by police without the attorney-general’s
permission.
According to the report, a complaint was first filed against
the judge in question three years ago, after one of the children’s teachers
notified social services of the problem. The judge admitted to the teacher that
he beat his children, apologized and expressed regret.
However, there
were additional reports of beatings following that, including much more
recently.
Initially on Wednesday, a court spokesman said he knew nothing
about the issue and was hearing about it for the first time that day. Later
Wednesday morning, the court spokesman added that now that the issue had been
raised, Supreme Court President Asher D. Grunis was checking into the
details.
The statement from the court also said that since the alleged
victims were minors, it would be illegal to publish the judge’s or the
children's names at this time.
A spokesman from the Justice Ministry
said, “It is true that the attorney-general did not approve, at the time,
interrogating under oath the judge being complained about, and requested
additional clarifications from the police and from the social services
authorities regarding the updated situation of the fabric of the relations in
the family.”
These clarifications were requested “in order to ensure that
the damage from an interrogation would not outweigh the benefit,” he said. “Last
weekend the case returned to us with these clarifications, and the issues are
being inquired into.”
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel responded
with a letter to Grunis and to the head of the courts demanding that the judge
be immediately suspended from his post.
Nahi Eyal, director-general of
the forum, said, “When a man suspected of striking his children sits in the
court – the public cannot have even a minimum feeling or faith in the justice
system.”
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