Official: Arab public refused to cooperate with October riots probe
Senior Justice Ministry official defends attorney general's decision not to indict officers involved in October riots, saying victims' families, Arab sector refused to cooperate with investigation
"Every decision is open to criticism, but the criticism is expected to be relevant and based on facts," the source explained. "The accusations and tongue-lashings in the media are not an alternative for seriously dealing with the facts."
Meretz Chairman Zahava Gal-On called the whole legal process surrounding the events "a chronicle of an obvious cover-up."
Mazuz decided to accept the State's Prosecutor's Office stand saying that the State sees no reason to overturn the Police Internal Affairs Bureau's decision in the matter, which said there was not enough evidence to warrant an indictment.
'Arab public didn't cooperate with investigation'
The official explained that "in a law-abiding state one does not submit indictments based on speculations and gut feelings. There is one criminal law, and it stipulates clear and strict conditions for indictments that apply to any men and any event."
He added that Mazuz's decision stemmed, among other things, from the lack of cooperation from the victims' families and the Arab sector. "The families refused an autopsy; the families and the Arab public as a whole refused to cooperate with the investigation that took place following the riots… such a refusal bears consequences."
According to the source, "In some cases, in light of the evidence, it could not be ruled out on a level required for criminal indictment the possibility that the forces were indeed operating under life-threatening circumstances – circumstances that provide immunity from criminal liability."
However, he added, "The deaths of 13 people is indeed a difficult and troubling result, as the Or Commission stipulated in its report. In order to ensure that the investigation has indeed been exhausted, a further, thorough and wide-scale investigation was conducted, by a very senior legal team, under the guidance of the attorney general…. And its findings and conclusions have been taken into account in the (attorney general's) decision."
