Peres urges more judges and policemen despite cuts

"A bureaucratic slip-up should not allow a murderer to go free," president says.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Ariel Peres 224 (photo credit: Courtesy )
Ariel Peres 224
(photo credit: Courtesy )
Budget cuts must not be allowed to prevent expansion of the network of judges or the police force, President Shimon Peres said Wednesday during a swearing-in ceremony for six new judges at Beit Hanassi in Jerusalem. Peres, who as president is not supposed to comment on such matters, was referring to the debate over the budget, a draft of which was presented by Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On on Tuesday. Peres said it was important to have more judges and police to prevent the spread of crime and domestic violence. "A bureaucratic slip-up should not allow a murderer to go free," Peres said, citing recent cases in which a judge had not attended to a file for several years, which allowed a suspect in a vicious assault to go free due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. Those sworn in included Judges Asher Kula and Yonatan Avraham of the Nazareth District Court; Raphael Yaacobi of the Jerusalem District Court; Yeshayahu Tishler of the South District Magistrate's Court; Gilat Shalev of the Southern District Magistrate's Court and Shlomo Banjo of the Haifa Traffic Court.