JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s attorney general said he will not appeal Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman’s acquittal on a charge of fraud and breach of trust.
Yehuda Weinstein announced the decision Wednesday, saying he did not believe a district court would overturn the November ruling by a three-judge panel of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.
Liberman, who resigned as foreign minister last December shortly before he was indicted, was reappointed to the post in November shortly after his acquittal.
He was indicted for allegedly advancing Zeev Ben Aryeh, Israel’s former ambassador to Belarus, in exchange for information on an investigation against Liberman. The charges came after Weinstein closed a 12-year probe of Liberman in other cases.
Liberman, who heads the Yisrael Beiteinu party, had said he would resign from politics if he were convicted.
In its decision exonerating Liberman, the Jerusalem court said Liberman had acted improperly by not telling the Foreign Ministry Appointments Committee of the information provided by Ben Aryeh when Liberman later appointed Ben Aryeh as his diplomatic adviser and then ambassador to Latvia.
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