Israeli in Swiss Spying Case Gets a Suspended Sentence

A Swiss court on Friday handed a suspended one-year sentence to an Israeli agent, closing the book on a bungled Mossad spy operation that embarrassed Israel and strained relations with Switzerland.

The judgment allowed the agent, identified by the pseudonym Issac Bental, to return immediately to Israel without serving any more time in a Swiss prison.

“He violated the sovereignty of Switzerland in an unrestrained and intolerable manner,” Chief Judge Hans Wipraechtiger said.

A tough verdict would likely have antagonized Israel. But Wipraechtiger said the mild sentence was in line with decisions in other espionage cases and appropriate for a first offense.

“We took pains to bring in no political aspects, although we know of course that every verdict--especially in this context--cannot be free from politics,” the judge said.

He said the five-judge panel of the Federal Criminal Court “tried to look strictly at Mr. Bental” and maintain Swiss neutrality toward all affected countries.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak issued a statement in Jerusalem expressing “satisfaction” that Bental would now be allowed to go home.

In an unusual gesture, Bental shook hands with each judge. But the soft-spoken agent, whose testimony in Hebrew was translated into German for the court, made no comment before leaving from a side door.

Bental conceded from the beginning that each of the three charges against him was true--that he acted illegally for a foreign country, conducted political espionage and repeatedly used false foreign identity documents. He was found guilty on all three counts.

He and four other agents were caught in 1998 as they tried to install equipment to eavesdrop on telephone conversations of a Swiss Lebanese living in a suburb of the capital, Bern.

The other agents--two men and two women--were released by local police after questioning, but Bental was handed over to the federal police because he had a diplomatic bag containing the tools used to install the equipment.