Former Fugitive Rabbi Berland to Be Released from Israeli Jail Today

By Yaniv Kubovich
Haaretz
April 6, 2017

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.781898?v=D58D7C60858CE8D82AE703B1CC8E33A1

Bratslav Hasidic Rabbi Eliezer Berland will be released from jail Thursday in accordance with the ruling of Israel's parole board on March 6 after serving five months.

His release comes after the State Prosecutor's Office said they had decided not to file an appeal against the ruling.

The warden of Nitzan prison will sign his release forms Thursday and Prison Service guards will leave the hospital ward where Berland is a patient.

Berland was convicted of sexual assault last November after spending years abroad as a fugitive and finally being arrested in South Africa. He was then extradited to Israel and sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court in a plea bargain.

On Tuesday, Israel's parole board ordered his release, shortening his sentence from 18 months to one year.