IDF sniper acquitted due to poor investigation

Lack of evidence forces military court to acquit sniper who shot against orders, hitting a Palestinian three year ago

Hanan Greenberg
Published: 02.28.07, 13:47 / Israel News

The shooting of a Palestinian by an IDF sniper in Gaza in 2003 went unpunished as the military court acquitted the soldier for lack of evidence on Tuesday after a three-year trial.

Military Court

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The maximum sentence facing the sniper, sergeant A., had he been convicted is 20 years, not to mention a criminal record for an offense similar to manslaughter.

"The prosecution did not succeed in presenting admissible evidence proving what happened to the Palestinian…The investigation of the incident was careless and unprofessional," read the verdict.

Sergeant A. served in the Shimshon battalion in 2003 where, according to the indictment, he was ordered to fire warning shots during a crowd dispersal operation; after a few shots a man was seen falling to the ground.

The indictment claimed that in the investigation of the incident, the solider admitted to shooting against orders and supposedly said, "One more Arab is dead."

The arguments for the acquittal were detailed over a 34-page verdict, with the bottom line being that "proof of the offenses attributed to the defendant in the indictment was not founded."

'CID made no effort to investigate'

In the verdict, the judges further pointed an accusing finger toward the flawed military police investigation which led to the acquittal. "Investigators did not make any effort to document an accurate reenactment of the shooting and map out the location of those present at the site," it read.

The judges pointed out that the incident was reenacted one year after it took place, "When the ground routes had already changed and only according to the defendant's testimony."

In addition, "The hits to the fence and the safety barrier were not recorded and worse than that, questions on the exact location of the crowd and the distance between the crowd and the man seen falling, haven’t been asked."

Criminal Investigation Division detectives also failed to ask the man at the look-out post at the time, who witnessed the Palestinian falling, which side of the crown the Palestinian was on.

The witness was not asked to point out the location on an aerial photo of the area, and an accurate picture of what went on at the time was not formed.

Moreover, a videotape documenting an argument between the defendant and the patrol's driver around the time of the incident has also disappeared.

The judges themselves were unable to visit the scene of the shooting to carry out their own investigation, since the IDF is no longer in Gaza.

In light of the severity of the matter, the military court judges ordered the verdict be sent to Chief Military Prosecutor Col. Liron Libman and CID Commander Col. Meir Ohana to be studied further.

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