Felix Milner
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
Ramallah lynch avenger acquitted
Supreme Court accepts appeal, overthrowing Haifa District Court ruling that Felix Milner and friend took revenge on Arabs after lynch; 'Prosecution did not establish knowledge,' judge says
The Supreme Court has acquitted Felix Milner on grounds of reasonable doubt after he had been found guilty by Haifa District Court on four counts of attempted murder and nine counts of vandalism and was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Milner had been convicted for shooting at an Arab-owned restaurant in Haifa.
Lynch Arrest
By Efrat Weiss
Shin Bet apprehend former Palestinian policeman in connection with Ramallah lynch
The case in question occured in October 2000, after the Ramallah lynch, in which a mob murdered and mutilated the bodies of two reserve IDF soldiers who unintentionally entered Ramallah.
Milner and his friend Danny Tikman had gone to the army base where the latter was stationed. Tikman took an M-16 rifle and a magazine with 29 bullets from the armory and they drove to Jaffa street in Haifa with an intent to harm Arabs, to revenge the lynch. Milner was driving the car.
When they reached a stretch with some restaurants, Tikman opened the window of the vehicle and started shooting towards the restaurants. As a result, four people were injured, one of them severely. The bullets also caused damage to six businesses and a couple of cars.
Tikman was convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. His appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court two years ago.
Milner's attorney claimed that the presence of the appellant in the car with Tikman did not prove that he had knowledge of his friend's malicious intent.
Justice Yosef Alon wrote in his ruling that "the evidence brought by the prosecution does not support the fact that Milner knew about the fraudulent means by which Danny had taken the weapon from the armory, as Tikman did this inside the base while he (Milner) waited for him in the vehicle outside the base."
The judge added that "the objective facts regarding Tikman entering the car near the army base with the gun in his hand, and the several-seconds barrage of gunfire that he fired in Jaffa street, cannot indicate in themselves about Milner's awareness or knowledge of his friend's malicious and murderous intentions."
Nonetheless, the court did convict Milner of assisting Tikman and sentenced him to three years imprisonment. As he has already been incarcerated for three and a half years, he is scheduled to be released immediately.
