What is a detention appeal?

Every decision on detention, release or release conditions can be appealed to the court above: from the Magistrates' Court to the District Court, and from the District Court to the Supreme Court. Both the defendant and the prosecution may appeal. The deadline: 30 days from the decision (Arrests Law, section 53). The appeal is usually heard by a single judge, quickly, on the basis of the record and the arguments.

An appeal is not the only tool. When there are new facts, a change of circumstances or a long time has passed since the decision, the route is a request for renewed review in the same court (section 52). An appeal fits when the claim is that the decision was wrong as it stands; renewed review fits when the picture has changed. Sometimes both are used, one after the other.

What is argued: that there is no reasonable suspicion or prima facie evidence, that there is no ground for detention, that the judge did not properly examine an alternative, or that the conditions set are harsher than necessary. Classified material seen by the first judge is also available to the judge hearing the appeal.

What a lawyer does: reads the record and the decision, chooses between an appeal and renewed review, files a reasoned notice of appeal on time, and appears at the hearing. An appeal filed quickly can shorten detention by days, and sometimes end it.

Source in law: Criminal Procedure (Enforcement Powers – Arrests) Law, 5756-1996, sections 52 and 53