Hagai Amir, the brother of the man who assassinated late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, said he was proud of his own role in the murder plot after he was freed from prison on Friday.
Amir was released after serving 16 years for helping his brother murder Rabin, considering such plans as rigging his car with explosives and poisoning him before deciding to shoot him in a crime that shook the Jewish state.
Protesters gathered outside the prison. He greeted them with a “v” sign.
Amir planned to spend his first Sabbath after his jail sentence with a friend at the Shave Shomron settlement, although media quoted its residents as saying he would not be welcome.
On his release, Amir, who was also found guilty of planning attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank and later handed an additional one year term in prison for threatening to kill the then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, was defiant.
“I am not regretful. I am proud of what I did,” Amir, an Israeli Jew, told reporters as family members whisked him into a car and drove away.
Dozens of left-wing demonstrates gathered at the prison in central Israel to protest his release. “We will not forget, we will not forgive,” they chanted.
Yigal Amir is serving a life sentence at Eshel prison in Beersheba. Another coconspirator, Dror Adani, completed his sentence in 2002.
Reporting by Rami Amichai; Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Andrew Osborn and JTA
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