DATE=7/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SWISS SPY TRIAL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-264169
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:


INTRO:  A Swiss court has found an Israeli 
intelligence agent guilty of spying and has given him 
a one year suspended sentence.  Lisa Schlein in Geneva 
reports that the Mossad agent was caught during a 
failed spy operation nearly two and a half years ago 
in the Swiss capital, Bern.


TEXT:  The Israeli agent could have received up to 20 
years imprisonment for spying.  In the end, he even 
escaped the prosecutor's recommendation that he be put 
in prison for 15 months.  Instead, he was given a one-
year suspended sentence and barred from entering 
Switzerland for five years.

In handing down the sentence, the presiding judge said 
that the Mossad agent's crimes were considerable and 
that Switzerland's sovereignty was violated in a 
callous way.  The defendant's lawyers welcomed the 
verdict and said they would not appeal.

The defendant was allowed to stand trial under the 
alias of Issac Bental.  He claimed that his life would 
be in danger if his true identity were known. 

Nearly two and a half years ago, Mr. Bental was caught 
by Swiss police trying to install wire tapping 
equipment in an apartment building on the outskirts of 
Bern.  The aim of the operation was to listen in on 
telephone conversations of a Swiss citizen of Lebanese 
origin who reportedly had links with the Lebanese 
militant organization, Hezbollah.  Those suspicions 
have not been confirmed.  Four of Mr. Bental's 
accomplices were released by the police.  A fifth 
agent was never found.

Mr. Bental was jailed for more than two months and 
released after Israel paid a two million dollar bail 
and promised that he would return to face trial.  
During the trial, he confessed to charges of engaging 
in illegal activity on behalf of a foreign country, of 
spying and using forged passports.  He was found 
guilty on all three charges.

The spying incident created a furor when it occurred.  
It strained normally good relations between 
Switzerland and Israel.  It also damaged Mossad's 
reputation as one of the world's most vaunted 
intelligence agencies.

In his defense, Mr. Bental said that he had joined 
Mossad for idealistic reasons and that he had acted to 
protect Israel's strategic interests. (Signed)

NEB/LS/GE/JBM



07-Jul-2000 12:09 PM EDT (07-Jul-2000 1609 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.