The minor involved in the murder of Alexander Levlovich ,64, whose death came to signify the beginning of last year’s wave of terror across Israel, received a prison sentence of nine years Monday morning as part of a plea bargain in which he confessed to all charges leveled against him and agreed to testify against four other accomplices. The Levlovich family will also be compensated with NIS 10,000 as part of the plea bargain.
The sentence comes just over a year after Levlovich was fatally wounded on the eve of Rosh Hashana in 2015—the Jewish new year— when he lost control of his car after it was pelted with stones by Palestinians. He was returning home after a festive meal.
Three suspects indicted for manslaughter
The indictment against the terrorists was submitted a year ago, while the plea bargain on behalf of the minor was submitted Monday morning. As part of the latter, the charges were reduced from manslaughter to accessory to manslaughter.
In light of their success in obtaining a plea bargain for the minor, the lawyers representing the remaining defendants indicted for manslaughter are also seeking a plea bargain to reduce their sentences.
To that end, they have requested from the courts that the main defendant be handed a sentence of 18 years in prison—a term to which the Levlovich family objects.
According to the indictment, on the eve of Rosh Hashana in 2015, the accused inidividuals met with the intention of throwing rocks at cars driven by Jews on main roads in the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in Jerusalem as part of acts defined as “retaliation and solidarity” in the wake of riots on the Temple Mount.
The four offenders hurled rocks at a number of vehicles before hitting that belonging to Levlovich, causing him to swerve off the road and crash into a tree. He was later pronounced dead.
The four terrorists fled the scene and later attempted to establish a consistent version of what had transpired in the event that they were arrested.
In Septemeber, Levlovich’s family held a small memorial ceremony in the neighborhood at the spot where he was killed.
First published: 10:14, 10.31.16