'No real damage caused'
Photo courtesy of Yesh Din
Nitzan. Case closed
Photo: Alex Kolomoisky
Officers won't be prosecuted for 'slight beating'
(Video) State Prosecutor's Office decides Border Guard policemen documented hitting Palestinians will not face criminal charges, 'as they did not cause real damage'
VIDEO - The State Prosecutor's Office has decided to close a criminal investigation against Border Guard officers documented beating Palestinians.
Nechama Zusman, senior deputy to the state prosecutor, responded to a petition filed by the Yesh Din human rights organization, saying that "the behavior was indeed inappropriate, but the strikes were very light and did not cause real damage."
Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan decided that there was no basis to intervene in the Police Investigation Unit's decision to turn over the affair to the Israel Police's discipline unit, with a recommendation to file discipline charges against the officers.
The State Prosecutor's Office wrote that the case would be handed over to the discipline unit within the next few days.
Attorney Michael Sfard, who represents Yesh Din, sent a letter to the State Prosecutor's Office in response to the decision. He wrote to Zusman that clips attached to the complaint filed with the Police Investigation Unit show a Border Guard officer forcing a Palestinian detainee to salute him several times, a Border Guard officer hitting a detainee in the head and neck, kicking him in the backside and raising his shirt several times.
Sfard also addressed the State's claim that the strikes were light. "Your answer amazed me, and I wonder whether you, and the deputy state prosecutor, even considered the serious implications of your decision.
"Your stance demonstrates unprecedented tolerance of abuse against people placed under the custody of a person in authority, while using violence and humiliation. The question of damage is irrelevant, as criminal law forbids assault and does not state that the assault should cause any physical damage.
"Ruling that striking a detainee is not within the bounds of a criminal act is even more serious than the beating itself, and constitutes an unfit and dangerous case of 'turning a blind eye.'"
Attorney Sfard concluded his letter by asking the State to "seriously reconsider your decision to close the case on the criminal level."
