JERUSALEM – The Israeli Supreme Court has doubled the prison sentence of a border police officer who shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian teenager during a Nakba Day riot outside Ramallah in 2014, reported Haaretz.
He had previously been sentenced to nine months' imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 shekels ($ 13,600) in the context of a plea agreement.
On 15 May 2014, Ben Dery and other members of his border police unit were sent to the Beitunia checkpoint outside Ramallah to contain the Palestinian demonstrations. Despite getting orders to use rubber bullets, Dery switched to live rounds and shot the 17-year-old boulder Nadim Nuwara into the coffin and killed him.
Both Nuwara's parents and Dery's lawyer objected to the plea agreement. Nuwara's father mocked the "ridiculous verdict", comparing Dery's verdict to that of Ahmed Mansara, a thirteen-year-old Palestinian who was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison for a Jewish boy had stabbed.
Dery's lawyer, Zion Amir, meanwhile said that although he was happy with the moderate penalty, he did not fully agree with my client's desire to arrange a bargain. We felt that the entire body of evidence in this case should have led to full acquittal. "
The Israeli prosecutor seemed to agree with the parents of the Palestinian boy, and in July he appealed against the verdict: "The court was mistaken by sentencing Dery to a punishment that does not adequately express the protection of human life, nor the severity of his punishment, actions or the degree of his guilt. "
"The case before us makes it difficult to investigate the verdict that has been given," wrote High Court Justice Noam Solberg, according to Haaretz. "This is because we are dealing with a case where the value of human life and the value of preserving the purity of arms clash with considerations concerning Dery's personal circumstances and the background that leads to his actions. taking your own hands, consciously deciding to cause an injury without danger – this should absolutely not be done. "
Dery's "degree of negligence was significant and gave the necessary prison time," Justice Daniel Tepperberg said.
This case contrasts sharply with that of the Israeli infantryman Elor Azaria, who was convicted of shooting and killing an injured Palestinian terrorist when he was on the ground on March 24, 2016. After a public outcry, Azaria's 14-month sentence was eventually reduced by a third and he was released from prison after nine months. The case divided Israeli society about the problems of the Palestinians and the army.
The Israeli police rejected Azaria's request for a gun license last week, declaring that he was a threat to the public, Ynet reported.
The Supreme Court of Israel doubles the sentence of policeman who killed the Palestinian revolt, first appeared at the Jewish Telegraph Agency.
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