Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert released early from prison

Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has been released from jail after serving time for corruption.

Prison Service spokesman Assaf Librati said Olmert was freed early on Sunday morning.

The parole board last week granted the Olmert, 71, early release from his 27-month sentence.

He was convicted in 2014 on charges of accepting bribes to promote a property project in Jerusalem and obstructing justice.

The charges related to a period when he was mayor of Jerusalem and trade minister before he became premier in 2006.

Olmert was a long-time fixture in Israel’s hawkish right wing when he began taking a dramatically more conciliatory line towards the Palestinians.

His imprisonment ended the last major Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and ushered in the era of Benjamin Netanyahu in 2009.

Mr Librati said Olmert was whisked away by Israel’s security service after his release and driven home after serving 16 months.

He said the terms of Olmert’s early release stipulate that for the next few months he has to do volunteer work, must appear before police twice a month and cannot give interviews to the media or leave the country.

Mr Librati added that President Reuven Rivlin could relieve him of the parole restrictions.