Israel
Surprise as Rabbi Berland seeks bail
In a surprise development today (Thursday, June 23), Rabbi Eliezer Berland, head of the Shuvu Banim Breslov sect who has been on the run from Israeli justice on sex allegations for three years, has applied to the SA High Court for bail pending an application to overturn the extradition ruling issued against him just before Pesach.
ANT KATZ
Berland’s legal team was still in court after 18:00 this evening waiting to hear if he would get bail while he takes what his legal team claim was a flawed process which led to the Hawks’ and Interpol’s request for an extradition order being granted – on review.
The extradition order was signed on 3 June by Minister of Justice, Michael Masutha, for Berland to return to Israel. But soon after, an appeal to review this decision was made by the Israeli fugitive who doesn’t want to return to Israel.
A Hawks spokesman told JR Online that Berland had appointed a new legal team, which includes attorney Ellie Karp and Advocate Anton Katz.
Legal pundits tell Jewish Report Online that the judge would have to be confident that there is merit to the underlying case for a review on the basis of a flawed process before even considering granting bail. Hence the lengthy process.
By 16:30 it had become clear to the legal team that the judge was unlikely to rule on the bail application today. Someone close to the team told SAJR that their guess was that the judge would either rule tomorrow (Friday) or Monday.
However, another well-placed source in the courtroom told SAJR after 17:00 that the judge would announce whether a ruling could be expected at 18:00.
And, for Rabbi Berland, it is back to “Sun City” prison…
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