Former minister Shlomo Benizri, in the first year of a four-year jail sentence for bribery and other felonies, has asked President Shimon Peres to pardon him, citing financial trouble.
“My financial situation is difficult, and I have no intention of returning to politics,” Benizri wrote in his request submitted Sunday. “I am asking the honorable president to consider the great contribution I have made to Israeli society over the years, and to cut my punishment, which is too harsh to bear.”
