Preimak: Placed under house arrest
Photo: Guy Asayag
Haredi who threatened GLBT rally released to house arrest
Haredi Nahal soldier ordered by court to keep away from 'gay community' for 180 days
The Jerusalem Magistrates' Court has released from custody a Haredi Nahal soldier arrested Saturday on suspicion that he sent threats to a gay internet forum just hours before a rally
held in honor of victims of an attack on a gay community center.
The court order Tuesday placed the soldier under house arrest and ordered him to be "restrained for 180 days from the gay community".
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The soldier, 20-year old Shmuel Preimark from Jerusalem, admitted to the charges against him on Sunday, at which time the court remanded his arrest by three days.
Preimak admitted that he threatened participants in the Saturday rally, which was held in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square in commemoration of two victims of a shooting that occurred one week earlier in a community center that provides assistance for gay teens.
Preimak is suspected of posting a message on a gay web forum a few hours before the rally began, threatening to hurt the rally's participants.
The soldier allegedly wrote, "Expect more victims among the gays, this time something bigger" and "a second attack on the community soon. Be ready. Don't say 'we didn’t know'."
Threats were also received by organizers of transportation to the rally from Haifa and Beersheba. In both cases unknown persons said they would arrive at the pickup points with ammunition in order to injure participants.
In response, police sent squad cars to the pickup points in both cities.
