Last update - 00:00 30/01/2007
Suspects in murder of alleged rogue cop to be spared murder charge
By Nir Hasson and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
The suspects in the 2004 murder of police officer Tzachi Ben-Or in Mexico will not be charged with murder, attorneys for the accused said Tuesday.
Ben-Or is suspected of serving as a mercenary for the underworld Parinyan family while also serving on the police force.
The lawyers said they had reached a plea bargain, according to which the murder charge against the defendants,Eran Haya and Gadi Hazan, will be removed from the indictment.
The plea bargain stipulates that both suspects will serve only short sentences - Haya eight years and Hazan four.
The judges handed down a sentence of aggravated assault and battery, but have not yet announced whether they will accept the plea bargain.
A final ruling will be reached on February 18.
The suspects will also be charged with aggravated assault and battery of Ben-Or's girlfriend, Jubana Darali.
The indictment indicated that the suspects slit Darali's throat, but she remained alive.
Haya and Hazan will pay Darali NIS 60,000, and each will pay a NIS 30,000 fine to the treasury.
The plea bargain indicates a retreat by the prosecution from many of the original indictment's more serious points.
The prosecutors explained that they were forced to accept the plea bargain due to difficulties in providing evidence for the circumstances for the murder and in dealing with Mexican law enforcement agents who dealt with the murder.
The prosecution was expected to receive a security videotape from Mexican authorities that would help shed light on the murder, and after more than a year of delays the video that arrived appeared to be unrelated to the crime.
Contradictions were also discovered in the testimony Darley delivered in Mexico.
Defense attorneys passed information to the state prosecutor's office information contradicting details presented in the indictment.
Prosecutors were also concerned about the high cost of the trial, and the time it would take to conduct it.
Fifteen prosecution witnesses would have to be flown in from Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom, and the prosecution said bringing the witnesses to Israel would be complicated.
Several days before the murder, the two suspects allegedly arrived at Ben-Or's apartment. Ben-Or agreed to let them stay in his home, having been introduced to Haya previously.
The original indictment indicated that the perpetrators killed Ben-Or with a shot to the head. When Darley awoke from her sleep, the two decided to kill her as well.
When Haya tried to strangle her and she fell, at which point Hazan then slit her throat with a knife.
Israeli investigators convinced Darley to come to Israel to testify, and she is being held in a secret location.