A military appeals court on Sunday rejected Private Eshhar Jaeger's appeal against his conviction on two counts of rape and another offense involving fraud and breach of trust. About ten months ago, the military court accepted the military prosecution's petition and sentenced Jaeger to serve six years and ten months, demoted to the rank of private, and payment of compensation to the victim of the offense. On appeal, the court sentenced him to 6 years and <> months. Counsel for the victim of the crime said today: "I hope that this will bring to an end the exhausting legal process that the complainant had to undergo vis-à-vis the person who harmed her."
According to the verdict, in which Jaeger was convicted, who served as an intelligence coordinator in the military police, he committed the offenses against the female soldier, whom he used as an intelligence source. The court emphasized at the time in its sentencing that by his actions, the defendant abused his position and status, violated the dignity and privacy of the victim of the crime, and his actions severely violated the basic values of the State of Israel.
Ashhar Jaeger was convicted of raping a female soldier who served as his source, Photo: Ami Shumen
After his conviction, an investigation was conducted on the "Source" program, which claimed that according to excerpts of the investigation there were doubts about his conviction. Jaeger's. Today, the court rejected Jaeger's appeal of his conviction, stating: "In light of the victim's version, which was found to be credible and supported by the various evidence and testimonies, the appellant's version was found to be unreliable," the judges wrote in their ruling, adding that the investigative failures were not enough to overturn his conviction: "We also did not find acceptance of the defense's arguments that the investigative failures in the case, In their accumulation, they create a significant violation of the appellant's right to due process, and justify the appellant's acquittal."
Regarding the appeal against his sentence, the court shortened Jaeger's sentence by seven months, but noted in its decision: "The sentence should not be placed on the lower threshold of the compound, due to the appellant's sexual dangerousness, which was again assessed as moderate, despite the private treatment in which he integrated, we did not find, even after reviewing the transcript of the trial court's interrogation, that the defense was able to reduce the weight of the dangerousness assessment in the appellant's case."
Attorney Hila Yaskin, who represents the victim on behalf of the Legal Aid Department at the Ministry of Justice, said in response: "The Military Court of Appeals rejected the appeal filed by the defendant, Eshhar Yager, and ruled today, once again, that the victim's version of the crime is reliable and must be accepted in full. The panel of judges rejected all the defense's arguments and even addressed the fact that the defendant, who was convicted of two counts of rape and one of fraud and breach of trust, never took responsibility for his actions. At the same time, the victim testified before the court in all instances, and even bravely withstood lengthy and difficult cross-examination by the defendant's counsel. The court reiterated emphatically that the victim described the events as they were, and now she hopes that the exhausting legal process she had to undergo against the person who harmed her will come to an end."
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