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Israel ex-PM Ehud Olmert given prison sentence | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust. | Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been sentenced to eight months in prison for fraud and breach of trust. |
He was convicted at a retrial in March of taking more than $150,000 (£96,000) from a US businessman. His lawyers have said they will appeal. | |
The sentence is in addition to a six-year jail term he received last year, after a separate bribery trial. | |
Olmert served as Israeli PM from 2006 to 2009. | |
He was forced to resign amid corruption allegations, which ended his political career. | |
His departure disrupted the Israeli peace process with the Palestinians and cleared the way for the election of Benjamin Netanyahu, seen as more hardline on the peace issue. | |
'Witch-hunt' | |
Olmert was acquitted of accepting envelopes stuffed with cash from New York-based financier, Morris Talansky in 2012. | |
However, a retrial was ordered after recordings emerged, in which he referred to receiving the money while trade and industry minister in the early 2000s. | |
Olmert has always claimed he is innocent and has described the allegations against him as "a brutal, ruthless witch-hunt". | |
The 69-year-old is currently appealing against the six-year sentence he was given in May 2014 over a real estate deal that took place when he was mayor of Jerusalem in the 1990s. | |
He was convicted of accepting bribes in return for speeding up a controversial residential development, known as Holyland, in the heart of the city. |