Ehud Olmert, a former Israeli prime minister. just became the first leader to be imprisoned. He was sentenced to 19 months in prison because of Bribery and Obstruction of justice. In 2006, he was forced to resign amidst the Israeli- Palestinian peace talks.
According to Yahoo News, Ehud Olmert released a video for a last- minute appeal to Israelis who wanted him to resign. In the video released before he went into the Maasiyahu prison in Central Israel, the former prime minister denied the bribery conviction against him and plead to the nation to remember him as a leader most especially his efforts in peace making. The said video was filmed at Olmert's home and released by his office and showed a weary- looking former prime minister.
In March 2014, Olmert was convicted of bribery from a controversial real- estate project in Jerusalem. The charges were made when he was a mayor in Jerusalem and a trade minister which he was sentenced to six years. However, Israel's Supreme Court reduced the sentence to 18 months. Nonetheless, the sentence was extended due to pressuring a confidant to not testify against him in multiple legal cases.
The former prime minister is also awaiting for the decision in a different case where he was sentenced to eight months in prison for accepting money from a supporter in the U.S. Other than Olmert, other senior officials who were sent to prison in Israel was Moshe Katsav for the charges of rape.
In a report from New York Times, Israel Hayom columnist Dan Margalit said in an interview with Israeli Army Radio that it was sad to see the former prime minister to go to jail. According to Margalit who was a former confidant of Olmert, he was a talented, charming, and capable person.
According to The Washington Post, former Israeli prison service official Haim Glick told Israeli Channel 2 TV that the former prime minister would have to participate in the roll calls, be inside his prison cell by 10 p.m., and have limits on phone usage. He also added that Olmert will receive good treatment like the rest of the prisoners but not a special treatment than them.
In November 2007, Ehud Olmert led his government to the Annapolis peace conference which launched years of ambitious but unsuccessful U.S peace talks with the Palestinians in which he had made unprecedented concessions with them.
In 2009, he resigned amidst the corruption issues undermining the Israeli- Palestinian peace talks.
