Border Guard officer gets 1 year for shooting illegal resident
Tel Aviv court rules policeman who shot Palestinian during border guard operation guilty of manslaughter only
Border Guard officer Tomer Avraham, 21, who was convicted of shooting an illegal Palestinian resident to death two years ago, will receive one year of jail time and a year and a half of probation, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled Sunday.
During the trial, it was determined that Avraham, who had shot the man during a border guard operation in 2006 aimed at identifying and detaining illegal residents in central Israel, was guilty of manslaughter and not of murder.
As it was described to the court, Avraham and two other policemen identified and detained three Palestinians at a building site in Jaffa, at which point they hit them with night-sticks and sat them with their backs facing the wall of the building site.
Avraham, who was left to watch the detainees, loaded his weapon and pointed it at the three. At this point, he lost control of his weapon and accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting one detainee in the neck and killing him.
The former border guard was given a one year sentence because, although it was determined that he had pulled the trigger by accident, he was convicted of recklessness for not having made sure his trigger was locked.
The victim's family will receive financial compensation, the judge ruled, but not from the defendant.
