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Shani Sivilya

Court finds border guard officer guilty of abuse

Shani Sivilya, who brutally beat minor, while calling 'death to Arabs' found guilty of abuse of helpless minor, intimidation and negligence

Border Guard Officer Shani Sivilya who was charged with abusing a 17 year old Palestinian detainee, aiming a gun to his head and pulling the trigger while saying "death to Arabs" and "Arabs are whores" was convicted Tuesday at the Jerusalem District Court.

 

As part of a plea bargain, the article of assault of a helpless minor was removed from the indictment, and she was convicted of abuse of a helpless minor, intimidation and negligence.

 

 

Sivilya admitted that she her actions were racially motivated. 

 

In March 2010, the minor was detained at the Rockefeller checkpoint near Jerusalem. A search revealed that he was carrying three firecrackers.

 

The victim was then handcuffed and turned over to Sivilya and another officer named Zion Benishti. The two put the minor into a squad car and during the drive to the police station Sivilya tightened his cuffs and pulled them down in order to hurt the teen.

 

When they got out of the elevator, Sivilya kicked the teen on his behind and threatened him, saying: "Ten more minutes and you're dead". It is claimed that the two officers led the Palestinian to an empty room at the station where they lowered him to his knees with his hands still tied behind his back and his head covered.

 

The teen is then alleged to have screamed "no, no" after which, when she finished her countdown Sivilya pulled the trigger while yelling "Death to Arabs" and "All Arabs are whores". During the incident Benishti urged Sivilya to stop, but she refused.

 

In the revised indictment sheet Sivilya admits to forcefully hitting the minor with her fists, while slapping his head and shoulders. The sides have not reached an agreement over the sentence and the Police Internal Affairs Bureau has made it clear that it will demand a prison sentence.

 

In response, Sivilya's attorney Refael Farig said: "I believe that the person convicted in this case was not just Shani Sivilya but all those who enlist 18-year old teens to serve in the Border Guard and put them at the center of the Israeli-Arab conflict.

 

"Though we haven't decided upon a specific sentencing in this case, we did agree that the probation service would present a review of the defendant's case and examine the possibility of closing this case without a criminal conviction."

 

Meanwhile Shani Sevilya insists that she isn't a racist, even though her indictment specifies the attack was racially motivated. "You could say we became immune to the level of violence we ran into every day," she told Ynet.

 

Sevilya claims the incident was a case of ineptitude and the result of a strenuous time in her military service and personal life.

 

"At the time I was barely sleeping, every day we were in constant danger," she explained, you go into an Arab village and people throw Molotov cocktails and debris from their rooftops. You feel helpless that you have no authority to arrest people: If they had the opportunity to hurt me they wouldn't think twice," she added.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.05.11, 17:50
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