Alleged Mossad Operative to Avoid Jail in Extradition Deal

Via Intelnews.org -

An [alleged] operative of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, who was arrested in Poland on charges of forging a German passport, will avoid prison time for the offense, under a suspected Polish-German-Israeli secret deal. The man, whose travel documents identify him as Uri Brodsky, was arrested upon arriving in Poland on June 4.

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The user of the forged passport is thought to have participated in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas weapons procurer, who was found dead in his luxury Dubai hotel room on January 20. German prosecutors believe that Brodsky, who worked in Germany under the name of Alexander Werin, assisted numerous Mossad operatives acquire forged identity papers of several European countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Austria and Switzerland. Upon his arrest in Poland, which was rapidly followed by a formal German extradition request, the Israeli government called on both Poland and Germany to drop all charges against Brodsky and allow him to escape to Israel.

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Nevertheless, Israeli pressure appears to have paid off. Even though a Polish court on Thursday upheld an earlier decision to extradite Brodsky to Germany, a legal expert told French news agency Agence France Presse on Friday that the Israeli spy will not be prosecuted for espionage once under German custody (see previous intelNews coverage). Instead, Brodsky will be tried in the city of Cologne for “forging official documents”, said international legal scholar Kai Petars. Even though this offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, Petars and other sources have said that Brodsky will probably “only be fined” and will then be allowed to go to Israel.