Last update - 00:00 21/12/2006
Karadi: T.A. police chief won't be penalized for Benny Sela escape
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi on Thursday said no action would be taken against the commander of the Tel Aviv District Police, David Tzur, over the escape of serial rapist Benny Sela.
Karadi said Tzur would not be charged because there was no way to prove that he was directly responsibile for for the blunders that led to Sela's escape. However, Karadi has instructed Tzur to investigate the shortcomings that came to light after the incident occurred.
Sources say Karadi is expected to call for the two police officers who escorted Sela during his escape, Sgt. Major Isak Butrashvili and Sgt. Major Haim Tirim, to be suspended from duty.
The committee investigating the circumstances of Sela's escape, headed by Major General (res.) Amos Yaron, on December 7 presented its findings of its to the Prisons Service and to the police. The report included the names of 13 officers within the Prisons Service and police - including Tzur - whose "conduct or failures left room for examination."
In his findings, Yaron clarified that there is no reason to prevent Tzur from serving as commander. Public Security Minister Avi Dichter had hinted that Tzur should be given a disciplinary reprimand as a result of Sela's escape, but Karadi chose not to pursue this.
Karadi's decision not to punish Tzur and to focus instead on the police who escorted Sela did not come as a surprise. Before the investigative committee's findings were released, Karadi told Haaretz he was convinced the police who escorted Sela bore the brunt of responsibility for the escape, and "deviated from all the regulations when they decided to take him in the car with them" - which they were not initially assigned to do.
"Since the members of the escort didn't know that they were going to transport Benny Sela, they didn't plan from the beginning how to transport a prisoner of his sort safely. They didn't take the necessary measures, not in manpower nor in their means of restraining him," Karadi said.