The family of the late Danny Katz, who was murdered in 1983, appealed to President Shimon Peres and to the Justice Ministry Monday evening through their lawyer, Attorney Yaakov Weinroth, requesting that the decision to commute the sentences of the boy's killers be re-examined.
President Shimon Peres in August decided to reduce the sentences of the five men convicted of the murder, making it possible for the convicts to ask the parole board to reduce their sentences by a third.
Danny Katz was murdered in December 1983 after leaving his home in one of Haifa's upscale neighborhoods on his way to visit a friend. His body was found four days later in a cave near the Israeli Arab village of Sachnin. In 1985 the Haifa District Court sentenced Ahmed Kuzli, Samir Janama, Fathi Janama, Ali Janim and Aatef Sabihi of the kidnapping and murder of Katz based on their confessions.
For years the men sought a retrial, saying they had only confessed under duress.
In 1999 former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak ruled that the five would receive a retrial. The five defendants were found guilty on all counts in the retrial; the judge presiding over the case rejected the men's claims that their confessions had been forcibly extracted.
The defendants then appealed to the High Court of Justice but their arguments were rejected by the court which acknowledged that the police had made errors in their interrogations, but that the confessions had been obtained soundly.
"The decision made is astonishing, both in light of the fact that it hit the family in complete surprise (while watching the news on TV), while demonstrating atrocious lack of sensitivity, and both in light of the fact that despite the cruelty of the murder, it was decided to reduce the murderers' sentence to 30 years in jail – the minimum period of time as stated by the law.
"It is difficult to exaggerate when describing the anguish and great pain suffered by the family following this decision and the way it was made," Attorney Weinroth explained.
According to the lawyer, the family was particularly troubled by the fact that the murderers "got the committee's full attention" by letting their representative, Attorney Avigdor Fledman, appear before the committee and present his arguments, while "no one bothered to ask the murdered boy's relatives for their response."