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Agence France-Presse

Israeli ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert was freed from prison on Sunday after being granted parole in a corruption case that reduced his sentence by a third.
Olmert, the country’s first former premier to serve jail time, did not speak to reporters when leaving the Maasiyahu prison in central Israel.
Wearing a dark-coloured T-shirt, he was seen exiting the jail soon after dawn on Sunday before being driven away.
The 71-year-old, premier between 2006 and 2009, was convicted of graft and entered prison in February 2016. He had been sentenced to 27 months.
Olmert was granted early release by a parole board on Thursday and prosecutors decided not to appeal the decision.
He had resigned as prime minister in September 2008 after police recommended he be indicted for graft, but remained in office until March 2009, when right-wing Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in to the post, which he has held ever since.
Olmert won international acclaim for relaunching peace efforts with the Palestinians at the Annapolis conference in the United States in 2007, but they failed to bear fruit and the corruption charges against him have come to define his legacy.

The parole board said last week that while Olmert’s crimes were “severe,” he was “punished for his deeds and paid a heavy price.”
“The inmate underwent a significant rehabilitation process in prison and displays motivation to continue it,” it said.
“All this significantly diminishes the risk he will deviate again from honest practice.”
The decision came after Olmert was recently rushed to hospital after experiencing chest pains in prison.
The former premier underwent examinations which determined he was healthy and he returned to prison after a number of days.
A picture of a gaunt Olmert in hospital gowns eating from plastic utensils found its way to social media, evoking a wave of sympathy from the public as well as politicians calling for his early release.
Even after his release, Olmert could still face new criminal charges, though some Israeli media reported that the probe is expected to be dropped.

Last month, the state attorney’s office instructed police to investigate suspicions Olmert had smuggled a chapter of a book he was writing out of prison, an act that would constitute a felony due to the “secretive” content, the justice ministry said.
Police had raided the office of the Yediot Aharonot publisher and seized Olmert’s manuscript as well as other materials out of fears their dissemination – before the mandatory censorship they would be subject to – could cause “severe security damage”, the ministry said.
The investigation was ongoing, with the state attorney’s office expected to announce in the coming days whether it would seek to press charges against Olmert over his conduct around the book.
Olmert’s original 27-month prison term was comprised of 18 months for taking bribes in the early 2000s in connection with the construction of Jerusalem’s massive Holyland residential complex, eight months for a separate case of fraud and corruption, and another month for obstructing justice.
The main convictions against him dated to before his time as prime minister, to the years when he served as mayor of Jerusalem and economy minister, among other positions.
In a video message released just before he began his sentence, Olmert, a debonair man reputed to have a taste for fine cigars, maintained his innocence.
“You can imagine how painful and strange this change is to me, my family, loved ones and supporters,” said Olmert, looking haggard and downcast.
“I totally deny all the bribe charges attributed to me.”
He added that “over the course of my extensive career I also made mistakes, though none of them were criminal by nature in my opinion. I’m paying a dear price for some of them today, perhaps too dear.
“With a very heavy heart, I’m accepting my sentence today. Nobody is above the law.”


Israeli ex-PM Ehud Olmert released from prison after parole board grants early release

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L), 71, leaves the Maasyahu prison in Ramla. Photo: AFP

epa05082860 Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert stands in the court room as he waits for the judges at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, 29 December 2015. Ehud Olmert will become the first former Israeli prime minister to go to jail after Israel's Supreme Court upheld one count of bribe-taking in a appeal ruling. The court in Jerusalem acquitted Olmert of one major count of bribe-taking when he served as mayor of the city between 1993 and 2003, Israel Radio reported. But it upheld a conviction for a lesser count and dramatically reduced a prison sentence handed to Olmert in May 2014 by Tel Aviv's District Court from six years to 18 months. EPA/GALI TIBBON/POOL

In this photo made available by the Government Press Office, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, speaks with U.S. President George W. Bush during a dinner at the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/GPO, Amos Ben Gershom/HO) ** ISRAEL OUT **

Former Israeli prime minister Olmert wins early release from prison

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) This file photo taken on December 29, 2015 shows former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert delivering a statement to the press as he comes out of the courtroom at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. A parole committee has decided to grant early release to Israeli ex-prime minister Ehud Olmert, who is serving a 27-month prison sentence for corruption, his lawyer said on June 29, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / GALI TIBBON

Israel's former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert leaves the Tel Aviv District Court after his hearing in Israel, Tuesday, May 13, 2014. Olmert was sentenced on Tuesday to six years in prison for his role in wide-ranging bribery case, capping a stunning fall from grace for one of the most powerful men in the country. (AP Photo/Jack Guez, Pool)

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Olmert was convicted in 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a real-estate project years in Jerusalem and obstructing justice
