LONDON (EJP)--- A UK-based Holocaust survivor who was imprisoned for money laundering has been released because he experienced "flashbacks" of his time spent hidden from the Nazis during WWII.
Mendel Rand had been due to spend a year and a half in prison after he was convicted of involvement in a conspiracy to illegally smuggle cigarettes to England. But last week he was let free on compassionate grounds, just five weeks after being incarcerated.
According to the conviction Rand earned more than 140,000 pounds (200,000 euros) for his help in the smuggling deal worth some 16.9 million pounds (24,8 million euros).
The 76-year-old, who was born in Krakow, Poland, had spent much of the second world war hidden by a non-Jewish Polish family.
And according to reports, a rabbi from Rand’s community of Golders Green in north-west London said the prisoner was having "nightmares of his war experience as a young man".
Enough punishment
The judge at London’s Court of Appeal decided that the publicity surrounding the case would be enough of a punishment.
Calling Rand a "wretched old man" Mr Justice Openshaw said: "The resultant shame will no doubt bring a heavy burden for him to carry for the rest of his life. We think, as an act of mercy, he should be allowed to go free."
Openshaw added that Rand’s experiences "often in cellars in the cold and dark, often under-nourished and, of course, in constant fear of capture, this experience has cast a pall over his whole life."
Rand’s lawyer Jonathan Goldberg explained how Rand, previously a well respected businessman, had been shunned by some people in the religious community he came from.
"I’m told it will mean he’s not invited to people’s homes as he once was," he said.
Reacting to the decision Rand told London’s Jewish News newspaper: "I am happy to be home. I am glad it is all over."