Friday, April 19, 2013

13-04-19 Presiding Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court is asked to ensure honest registration of petition, which documents lack of integrity in the computerized records of the Israeli courts over the past decade


The courts are central to socio-economic changes in Israel over the past decade, from banking and stock market regulation, through the use of public land, to the rights of underprivileged groups such as victims of Nazi persecutions, radiation victims in the Dimona nuclear plant, veterans, and social security beneficiaries.
    
Magistrate Hagai Brenner of the Tel Aviv District Court, Presiding Justice Asher Grunis, and self-immolated social protest activist Moshe Silman.  The petition to the Supreme Court provides evidence in support of the opening lines in Silman's last letter - "and the Tel Aviv District Court denied my access to justice, Magistrate Hagai Brenner of the Tel Aviv District Court violated the law and obstructed justice with impunity."

Tel Aviv, April 19 - in a letter, sent today, Presiding Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court Asher Grunis is asked to ensure honest registration of a petition (Dr Joseph Zernik v Minster of Justice Tzipi Livni and Director of the Courts Michael Spitzer, 2689/13), alternatively - to provide refund for court fees. [1]
The reason for the unusual request is the opening of the petition file last week, while failing to register the filing of the petition commencing record.  With it, Justice Esther Hayut issued yesterday the first decision in a petition, which is not before the Court. [2]    
The petition itself claims that the authority vested in the Director of Administration of Courts by then Justice Minister in 2004 to introduce unspecified changes in the Regulations of the Courts in the process of implementing new computer systems in the courts, should be void and null. [3] The petition claims that such authority violates the principle of separation of branches of government, and therefore, the Minister of Justice was not authoritzed to vest such authority, and the Director of the Courts was not authorized to accept such authority.  Additionally, the petition claims that the situation violates the principle of publicity of the law, since the Administration of Courts refuses to disclose what the changes were.  Such secret changes undermine the Regulations of the Courts, as well as Civil and Criminal Court Procedures, as published and known by the public.
The petition also brings evidence that conditions, which have been established in the courts as a result of imlementing the computerized systems of the past decade, undermine the integrity of the courts.  
Central part of the evidence stems from the case of self-immolated, social protest activist Moshe Silman in the Tel Aviv District Court:  Three court file numbers were identified in the case of Silman v Social Security Administration. In the first - the commencing paper was purportedly filed.  The office of the Clerk of the Court now claims that such court file never existed. In the second court file, Magistrate Hagai Brenner affected the dismissal of the complaint.  In the third court file, Pro Tem District Judge Hagai Brenner denied an appeal from his own decision. 
The evidence in the petition is also based on system wide review of the computerized systems that have been implemented over the past decade, as part of Human Rights Alert (NGO) submission to the Human Rights Council for the 2013 Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights in Israel.  [4]  Among the findings were numerous decisions of the Supreme Court, which were purportedly digitally signed by the late Chief Clerk of the Israeli Supreme Court up to five years after his death.

Inline image 2
Electronic decision record of the Israeli Supreme Court, purportedly from 2007, in Franco-Sidi v Administrator of the Nazi Persecutions Compensation Fund (1583/12).  The decision was purportedly signed by the late Chief Clerk Shmaryahu Cohen five years after he was no longer among the livinig, and by Magistrate Boaz Okon, a couple of years after he was no longer with the Supreme Court.

The petition also notes the conduct of Israeli judges in recent years - Judge Vardah AlSheikh of the Tel Aviv District Court and former Judge Hilah Cohen of the Haifa District Court were both caught falsifying court records.  Such conduct was unlikely to be possible, had the computerized systems of the court been valid.
The petition also notes that three senior Computer Science professors from three different Israeli universities, who examined the findings, expressed deep concerns regarding validity of the systems.  One of them forwarded on behalf of the petitiner a request for halachic ruling by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: Is the Supreme Court of the State of Israel engage in widespread public deception?
The courts are central to socio-economic changes in Israel over the past decade, from banking regulation the use of public land, to the rights of underprivileged groups such as victims of Nazi persecution, radiation victims in the Dimona nuclear plant, veterans, and social security beneficiaries.

____
Joseph Zernik, PhD, Human Rights Alert (NGO)
Occupy Tel Aviv/Social Protest encampment

LINKS:
[1] 13-04-18 Zernik v Minister of Justice et al (2689/13) in the Israeli Supreme Court – letter to Presiding Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court
[2] 13-04-18 Zernik v Minister of Justice et al (2689/13) in the Israeli Supreme Court – Online Public Access Records and April 18, 2013 Decision by Judge Esther Hayut
[3] 13-04-15 Dr Zernik v Justice Minister Livni and Director of Administration of the Courts Spitzer (2689/13) – Petition in the  High Court of Justice of the State of Israel (Hebrew with English translation)
[4] 12-06-04 Human Right Alert, Submission;  2013 UPR of the State of Israel - "Integrity, or lack thereof, of the electronic record systems of the courts of the State of Israel"


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