Deputy Jerusalem District Attorney allowed to resume post

Korb started his “vacation” on February 14, after it was published that he told students “most judges are asses.”

By DAN IZENBERG
korb 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
korb 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Deputy Jerusalem District Attorney Uri Korb’s forced leave of absence has ended and he will be able to return to his post, although for the time being he will not be allowed to participate in the trial of former prime minister Ehud Olmert, the Ministry of Justice and the Civil Service Commission announced on Monday.
Korb started his “vacation” on February 14, one day after the daily Yediot Aharonot published tape-recorded excerpts from lectures he had given to post-graduate law students, in which he said that “most judges are asses” and described the judicial system as “full of rot and stupidity.” After consulting with Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein and Justice Ministry director-general Guy Rotkopf, Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander ordered an investigation into the Yediot report. The probe was completed last week.
During the investigation, the commission also discovered that Korb had been lecturing at the College of Law in Hod Hasharon for three years without permission.
On Tuesday, Hollander and Assaf Rosenberg, head of discipline in the Civil Service Commission, met with Rotkopf, the Justice Ministry legal adviser and Deputy State Attorney Shai Nitzan to discuss the findings of the commission and decide what to do next.
In a joint announcement issued after the meeting, the spokesmen for the Justice Ministry and the Civil Service Commission stated that Rotkopf would file a disciplinary complaint against Korb to Hollander. The commission will then prepare an action against Korb and submit it to a disciplinary tribunal pending the outcome of a hearing to be granted to Korb.
In the meantime, the participants in Tuesday’s meeting decided to allowKorb to return to work “in consideration, among other things, of theexpressions of regret that he made immediately after his remarks werepublished, verbally and in writing, before all the relevant bodiesincluding the courts.”
They also decided to leave it up to State Attorney Moshe Lador todecide when Korb could return to the courtroom where Olmert is beingtried. Korb, who is well-versed in all the complex details of the case,is the chief prosecutor in the trial.