Olmert corruption sentence suspended

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JERUSALEM, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday he was still "standing tall" after receiving a light sentence on corruption charges.

A court on Monday gave Olmert a one-year suspended sentence and ordered him to pay a $19, 218 fine, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Olmert, 66, was convicted earlier this year of breach of the public trust while he served as minister of trade, industry and labor between 2003 and 2006.

Shula Zaken, a former Olmert aide, received a nine-month suspended sentence.

"A few weeks ago I told the judges that I wanted to leave court standing tall, and today I leave court standing tall," Olmert said after sentencing. "I learned the lessons of the conviction.

Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, was acquitted in July of all serious crimes that would have required long prison sentences.

Prosecutors had wanted Olmert to be given a sentence of six months of community service, as well as a fine and probation, Haaretz reported.

Olmert's attorneys had pushed for the court not to impose any sentence, asking the court "to be satisfied with the personal and public price that Mr. Olmert has already paid."

Olmert made a personal plea to the court, charging that "a media campaign of unprecedented size and intensity" had been mounted against him in Israel and abroad during the trial.