Rabbi Yeshayahu Pinto was released this morning (Wednesday) from prison, after serving a year for bribery and obstruction of justice.
In a statement Pinto said that he used his 12-month sentence to "immerse himself in learning". He reports that while in prison, he "wrote 15 books and 13 pamphlets, some of which are already in their second and third editions and more than two million copies have been distributed in Israel and around the world in various communities."
In his statement, the rabbi said, "During the Rav's incarceration, numerous pressures were brought by interested parties to prevent his release after serving a third, as decided by the Parole Board of Prison Service. Although a decision was already made to release him due to his medical condition, an unprecedented campaign of pressure and revenge was activated, and the decision was reversed in an attempt break his spirit ... these efforts have failed, the vendetta has failed, and the Rabbi has accepted the decision and the reversal with equanimity and dignity.
"The rabbi instructed that all functionaries carefully check every request for assistance on the part of civil servants and the judiciary, and to immediately refuse requests for such assistance, even those filed in recent months."
In May 2015 the Tel Aviv District court ruled that Pinto serve one year in prison, after many delays caused by his medical condition, after which the rabbi admitted the charges against him as part of a plea bargain that he signed.
He was convicted of obstruction of justice, and offering bribes to the head of the National Fraud Squad. In addition the rabbi was sentenced to a two year suspended sentence and a fine of one million shekels.