Sharon's son appeals jail term, requests community service

Last update - 18:34 25/01/2007

Omri Sharon appeals jail term, requests community service

By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent

Former Likud MK Omri Sharon, the son of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, appealed his nine-month prison sentence in the Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday.

Sharon plead guilty roughly one year ago to a series of charges related to his father's 1999 primaries campaign, including fictitious registration of corporate documents, lying under oath and violations of the election code.

Sharon's attorney Dan Sheinman told the court that the law was applied selectively in Sharon's case, saying that other politicians who committed similar crimes were not tried, and therefore there is no precedent for the severity of the sentence.

Sheinman asked the replace the prison term with community service.

Sheinman also criticized the original presiding judges in the case, saying failed to take into account the problematic nature of the election code. According to Sheinman, the code limits campaign financing to amounts with which it is impossible to run a successful campaign.

Sharon's attorney even compared the election code to other laws that were deemed unrealistic and thus revoked, such as the law banning homosexual relations, and a law that banned the publishing of details of criminal proceedings.

Prosecution attorney Erez Nuriel said in response to the defense's arguments that the court should not intervene in the sentence, as the case involves "the purchase of power with money," as well as crimes of "a high level of public corruption." Nuriel said the original sentence is appropriate.

In addition to his nine-month prison term, Sharon was also sentenced to a nine-months suspended sentence and a NIS 300,000 fine.