On video: "Who is going up in flames now? Hvara": the song that was played at the demonstration of supporters of the legal revolution in Beit Shemesh/Uri Koren
The prosecutor's office has withdrawn some of the charges it filed against a young man who was arrested about a year ago on suspicion of throwing stones at Arabs near Kochav Hashar in Benjamin.
The young man arrived at the scene of a demonstration held after the murder of the brothers Hillel Weigel Yaniv Hid in Hawara and due to a large number of terrorist incidents in the area. About an hour after his arrival - he was arrested by an IDF officer who claimed that he had thrown stones at Arab vehicles that had passed by earlier.
The young man denied what was attributed to him, but despite this, an indictment was filed against him based on the testimony of an IDF officer.
The district court sent the young man to house arrest until the end of the proceedings, and an appeal filed by his lawyer from 'Honno' to the Supreme Court was also rejected The young man's defense attorneys claimed that the evidence shows that he was not present at the time of the stone throwing and it is proven from the photo evidence that this is a false testimony of the officer.
Clashes between Jews and Arabs in Hawara.
February 26, 2023/Shlomi Heller
Attorney Yitzhak Bem, who represented the young man in the main proceedings, demanded and received the divisional operations diary and the recording of the IDF communications network that supported the defendant's claim regarding the time gap between the incident and his arrival at the scene.
At the beginning of next week, the evidence phase in the young man's trial was supposed to open, but suddenly the prosecutor's office announced that it was withdrawing the charges against him and canceling the restrictions imposed on him.
The young man is represented by attorneys Moshe Pulaski on behalf of the Honnu and Yitzchak Bam organization.
"From the very first moment, we strongly claimed that the materials in the case show that the accused was not present at the scene at the time of the incident, but arrived at the scene afterwards, and that it was an incorrect identification that was made in retrospect. A year late, the prosecution also admits this," Plesky said.
"Unfortunately, when I stood in front of the judges in the arrest process in my district and in the upper house, I encountered a wall in the form of opacity. The judges of the Supreme Court refused to examine the evidence in the case, which is against the law. The freedom of a citizen in his prime years was not in front of their eyes as expected. Preserving the rights of suspects is probably not all- This is relevant when it comes to youths from the Jewish Community of Israel."
Bem added: "This is a classic case of mistaken identity, which led to a false accusation.
The prosecution did well to retract its claims, it's just a shame that the defendant wasted a year of his life under house arrest for no wrongdoing.
It is important that lessons be learned from this case - the prosecutor's office must check the evidence thoroughly before filing charges and demanding house arrest, not a year later."
More on the same topic:
Judea and Samaria