The Ombudsman sharply criticized the conduct of the police, who did not disclose body camera footage in the incident in which a citizen with no criminal record was arrested and beaten
Police officers manning a checkpoint during the corona closure // Archive photo: Gil Eliyahu, Ginny
Retired Ombudsman for State Representatives in the Courts, Retired Judge David Rosen, ruled today (Tuesday) that the police's failure to present an objective factual picture in court could mislead and distort the law to the point of leading a person to false arrest.
Retired Judge Rosen referred to a case in which police refrained from showing videos from police body cameras of alleged violent violence against a man arrested for not wearing a mask over his face, and even opposed showing films in the suspect's defense documenting how the man was severely beaten and electrocuted. Multiple times.
The complaint, which was submitted to the Commission, concerns a person with no criminal record who was arrested in early July in Holon after being severely and electrocuted by two police officers with a taser gun numerous times, for failing to wear a mask in accordance with Corona guidelines.
He also allegedly refused to identify himself to police and tried to resist arrest.
Following his meeting with the police, the suspect suffered a severe head injury, concussion and vomiting, was transferred to the emergency room and needed medical treatment and painkillers.
He came to me at these moments - two policemen electrifying a taser and beating a guy who issued an identity card and asked for identification.
Something very bad is happening to us as a society ... when many people sang at Salomon Taka they were silent and then "stopped their support" in protest.
@GYevarkan @amirivgi @AmirOhana @IL_police pic.twitter.com/fhgE54tkIx
- hanizubida (@HaniZubida) July 5, 2020
The investigation of the complaint revealed that the police officers who were present at the incident were equipped with body cameras that documented the execution of the arrest.
Nevertheless, none of these videos have been brought before the courts, in their various instances, all while the suspect is in custody for days and the police are seeking to extend his detention.
At the basis of the complaint submitted to the Commission is the defense attorney's claim that during his client's arrest hearings the defense attorney returned and asked to present to the court a video taken by the suspect's friend who documented what happened during the arrest, but the police vehemently objected. , As an appellate court, refer to the same video.
Commissioner Rosen stated in his decision that "the police refrained from presenting an objective factual picture in court stemming from Kelia and its people, which is the last, ostensibly, to argue against their credibility, and instead, explained and argued in court that it opposes showing films in the Defense Authority's. ". With all the necessary caution, this is a conduct that may be misleading and perverted, to the point of leading a person to false arrest."
Against this background, the Commissioner recommended to the Head of the Investigations and Intelligence Division of the Israel Police to refine procedures that require detainees to present to the court visual documentation of the incident, if any, and to establish procedures guiding detainees in their response to the defense request. Discussed in court.
