More than two and a half years after the disaster, in which 10 students from the "Bnei Zion" preparatory school died, the hearing of the evidence will begin. • Throughout the trial, the parents of those killed complained of unnecessary procrastination.
About a year after the state filed indictments, and more than two and a half years after the disaster, today (Monday) the evidentiary phase of the trial in the Nahal Tzafit disaster case will finally begin.
In the disaster, which occurred in 2018, ten students of the Bnei Zion pre-military preparatory school were found dead.
The parents of the dead complained throughout the trial about unnecessary procrastination and claimed that there were long and unnecessary delays.
Documentation of the rescue of the boys from Nahal Tzafit // Photo: Air Force
At the end of October last year, the Southern Prosecutor's Office (Criminal) filed an indictment in the Beersheba District Court against Yuval Kahan, who headed the Bnei Zion pre-military preparatory school, and against Aviv Berdichev, the director of the preparatory program for the mechina. Opinion and causing serious injury, due to the responsibility for the deaths of 10 of the mechina students and the candidates to study there, and the injury of two of them.
In the indictment, the state argued that despite the clear and immediate danger of flooding, which was known to the defendants, and despite repeated warnings that came to their notice before and during the trip, including warnings from knowledgeable and rainwater and flood experts, the defendants did not cancel the planned trip. The creek channel, and especially into the narrow, narrow part, where.
"By their prohibited acts and omissions, the defendants caused the deaths of ten members of the group and the grievous bodily harm of the two candidates for recruitment, recklessly, when they take an unreasonable risk of causing the said dire consequences, hoping to prevent them," the indictment said.
As a result of the flood, eight of the candidates for the mechina and two members of the mechina died: Agam Levy, Ilan Bar Shalom, Ella Or, Gali Ballali, Maayan Barhum, Tzur Alfi, Rumi Cohen, Shani Shamir, Yael Sadan and the late Adi Raanan. Two more candidates The mechina suffered serious injuries.
Last June, the parents cried out against the president of the Be'er Sheva District Court, Judge Revital Yaffa-Katz, who held mediation hearings to bring relief to the charges against the two defendants. , And in return a more serious guilt clause will be abolished, which is easily killed.
Under the President's proposal, the two defendants will plead guilty to a section, with a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison, while the penalty for the section where they were originally charged is up to 12 years.
The proposal, as stated, provoked much anger among the parents of those who perished in the disaster, and they announced that they would fight by all means at their disposal, to thwart the proposal, "shameful," as they put it.
