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Photo: Meir Partush
Avri Ran cleared of charges
Photo: Meir Partush

Hilltop youth leader cleared of assault

Judges rule testimony by alleged Palestinian victims was unreliable, contradictory

The Kfar Saba District Court cleared the leader of the so-called "hilltop" settler youths, Avri Ran, along with two settlers from Itamar, of charges of attacking a Palestinian shepherd last year.

 

The judge ruled testimonies by the Palestinians allegedly attacked in the incident were unreliable, contradictory, and defied logic.

 

A fourth settler, Victor Lezidansky, is accused of being involved in the incident, and is still being tried. He has admitted that charges against him were true.

 

Ran, a hilltop resident near Itamar in the northern West Bank, was incarcerated for a number of days, before being released to house arrest at his brother's home in Netanya.

 

He later violated the terms of his release and escaped. Police recaptured Ran in August after a six-month manhunt. Ran told investigators he used 20 hiding places to evade capture, including forests and caves.

 

He was arrested four times in the past two and a half years for similar incidents, and has been released.

 

The original indictment charged that in March 2005, Amar Abu-Shada stayed at a northern West Bank village, where he tended his flock of sheep.

 

The four accused men arrived at the scene and asked Shada to sit, but he began to escape. Two settlers began chasing after him, and Shada fell. The settlers then kicked Shada, according to charges. One settler was alleged to have also struck Shada with the butt of an M-16 rifle.

 

Ran was accused of striking a second Palestinian, Abu-Haniya, with electrical wires from his tractor and punching him in the face. According to the indictment, the two Palestinians were bruised in the attack.

 

Lezidansky admitted his role in the attack and was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm. His trial is taking place separately from that of the other three defendants.

 

According to the testimonies of the two Palestinians, the settlers would routinely hit them, shoot at them, and even kill some of the sheep.

 

Judge Nava Bechor cleared the three defendants however, saying: "It became clear from the witness statements that a bitter land dispute has been taking place between the defendants and the Palestinian residents."

 

She added that there was no argument over the fact that Ran owned the land where the incident was alleged to have happened, and the accusers knew this.

 

According to the judge, Abu-Haniya changed his answers in court on all that concerned Ran, "in an evasive manner, and gave answers that defied all logic."

 

The judge also said that Abu-Shada admitted in court that he may have submitted incorrect as part of his testimony to the police.

 

The judge summed up by saying that the accusers exaggerated and gave contradictory testimonies, which defied logic.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.16.06, 19:47
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