Yona Avrushmi is a free man after serving 27 years in jail for murdering Peace Now activist Emil Grunzweig, who died from a grenade Avrushmi threw at a rally in 1983.
Avrushmi had been sentenced to life, but then-President Ezer Weizmann reduced the sentence to 27 years. Avrushmi won an early release by the prison authority’s pardon committee, but the government won an appeal to keep in jail.
The court rejected further appeals, and he was released around noon Wednesday after serving his entire term of 27 years.
The 1983 rallied was staged across from the official residence of the prime minister and called for the government to dismiss then-Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. An investigating committee had pinned indirect responsibility on him for the murders at Sabra and Shatilla in the First Lebanon War.
The grenade attack killed Grunzweig and wounded nine others. Avrushmi has since expressed regret for his act. Voice of Israel government radio reported that after he was freed Wednesday, Avrushmi did not speak at all as he waited for a taxicab to take him away from a crowd of journalists. Despite his silence, the radio correspondent stated that Avrushmi did not say he was sorry for the murder.