Avishai Raviv\'s trial, to the surprise of hardly anyone who is familiar with the case, has been postponed yet again - for the 8th time. Raviv was an agent of the GSS before and after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin in November 1995. The trial was scheduled to begin next Sunday, but Raviv, who is charged with \"not preventing\" the assassination, asked for another delay for three reasons: He has not yet looked at the secret information that has been amassed against him; he wishes to present additional information; and his publicly-appointed defense counsel took ill. The Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the \"case is not yet ready to be tried.\" Raviv has admitted to knowing that Yigal Amir wanted to kill Rabin, and many people have testified that Raviv actually goaded Amir to commit the crime.
Some say that the explanation for the delay is that the statute of limitations is coming close to running out on this case. MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) seems to agree: \"Every little child can see that the trial has been pushed off for non-professional reasons. There is apparently someone who has an interest in not lighting up the dark corners of everything that has to do with this case. This causes further mistrust in the legal system, and those who can make the decisions should take this to heart… The man in the street says to himself, \'Here\'s a Shabak [GSS] agent who is suspected of knowing about the assassination but didn\'t warn anyone or try to deter him, while Margalit Har-Shefi has already been tried and served her sentence - so what\'s going on here?\'\"
The trial has been re-scheduled for the 25th of Nissan, April 7.
Some say that the explanation for the delay is that the statute of limitations is coming close to running out on this case. MK Zevulun Orlev (NRP) seems to agree: \"Every little child can see that the trial has been pushed off for non-professional reasons. There is apparently someone who has an interest in not lighting up the dark corners of everything that has to do with this case. This causes further mistrust in the legal system, and those who can make the decisions should take this to heart… The man in the street says to himself, \'Here\'s a Shabak [GSS] agent who is suspected of knowing about the assassination but didn\'t warn anyone or try to deter him, while Margalit Har-Shefi has already been tried and served her sentence - so what\'s going on here?\'\"
The trial has been re-scheduled for the 25th of Nissan, April 7.