BREAKING: Isreali PM,Netanyahu Pleads Not Guilty To Corruption Charges

Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to corruption charges.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has returned to court and pleaded not guilty to corruption charges as his trial enters an intensified phase six weeks before an election.

The Monday hearing, which was pushed back multiple times because of coronavirus restrictions, is where he has to deliver his formal response to the allegations. Subsequent sessions will focus on testimony and evidence.

Netanyahu, the first Israeli prime minister to be indicted in office, was charged last year over allegations he accepted improper gifts and sought to trade regulatory favour with media moguls in exchange for positive coverage.

The combative 71-year-old leader denounced the charges as “fabricated and ludicrous” ahead of his first court appearance in May and claimed to be the victim of a witch-hunt, taking direct aim at his hand-picked attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from outside the court in Jerusalem, said dozens of anti-Netanyahu demonstrators had gathered outside.

“The object of his legal team is to respond to the charges of bribery in three separate cases. This hearing sets out the main schedule of the trial, at which Netanyahu may have to appear three times a week,” he said.

Read More from Al-Jazeera.