Condemned for corruption, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, July 2, left the prison "Maasiyagu" and prematurely released. This is reported by the newspaper Haaretz. Out of the 27 months of the sentence appointed by the court, he served 16.5 months. Olmert's release was made possible after on Thursday, June 29, the country's prison service decided to reduce the sentence by more than a third. Until May 2018, the former politician will be obliged to perform public works as a volunteer in various organizations. One of them is the Society for the Provision of Medical Assistance. In addition, Olmert will have to be twice a month in the police department. Olmert, who headed the Israeli cabinet of ministers from 2006 to 2009, was found guilty of corruption in the construction of the Holiland complex. The investigation found that the officials of the mayor's office of Jerusalem, headed by Olmert, received several million shekels in the form of bribes from the developer company for promoting the project and making numerous changes to it. Initially, the politician was sentenced to six years in prison.

Also, the court ordered the former prime minister to pay a fine of one million shekels (over 265 thousand dollars). Later, the Supreme Court of Israel partially granted the appeal of the defense and reduced the sentence to 18 months. Another month of imprisonment was added by the court for hindering the investigation. The former politician began serving his sentence on February 15, 2016. On 21 June, Olmert was transferred from prison to the hospital because of chest pains.

Original article: Former Prime Minister of Israel was released ahead of schedule.