Netanyahu
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Tel Aviv District Attorney Securities Department Director Attorney Yehudit Tirosh informed the Jerusalem District Court that the Prosecutor's Office opposes Prime Minister Netanyahu's request to absent himself from the hearing on the indictment in his case.

"The Prosecutor sees no room to change from the Honorable Court's decisions regarding the defendants' attendance at his arraignment hearing," the response said.

Tirosh noted, "The assumption in a criminal proceeding is that the defendant be present during the course of the trial in his case. This is what the Legislature determined and so did the Supreme Court.

"The presence of the accused in his trial is also important in the face of justice and public trust in the fairness and equality of the criminal procedure in relation to all defendants," Tirosh added, quoting former Supreme Court Chief Justice Aaron Barak: "The presence of a defendant in his trial is but an expression of his private will's autonomy. It is a public value. Underlying this value lies the need to maintain 'justice in its glory' and 'appearance of justice' together."

She said, "The remarks about the appearance of justice are underlined more intensively as we deal with an arraignment that is the hearing opening the defendant's trial. The arraignment is not a technical discussion. It constitutes an opening of the trial and has legal implications as set out in the law.

"There are no reasons presented in the request to justify an exceptional outcome as the defendant's absence from the opening of his trial," Tirosh stated, noting "this response relates only to the arraignment hearing, and clearly expresses no opinion regarding other requests, if and to the extent that such are filed, in relation to other types of hearings."