Last update - 00:00 08/03/2007
Two Border Policemen get prison terms for robbing Palestinians
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent
Kfar Sava Magistrate's Court sentenced two Border Police troops Wednesday to six and three months in prison for stealing from Palestinians.
An additional Border Policewoman who participated in one of the robberies was given a one-year suspended sentence.
The troops, Doron Alon and Ya'akov Peretz, confessed to the charges in the context of a plea agreement. The two said that on occasion they stopped Palestinian taxi drivers while they were off duty, searched their vehicles and stole any money that they found. Their license plates were covered up during the robberies, in order to allow them to escape without being identified.
The presiding judge, Hanoch Fedder, wrote in the sentencing document that "these are severe to very severe crimes ? crimes that were carried out by the defendants while they were in uniform, identifying themselves as active policemen with authority. In their behavior, the policemen and Border Policemen represent a sort of mirror of the entire state ? in this instance, the defendants failed [due to] their deviant behavior."
Alon was sentenced to six months in prison, although the court will examine the possibility of converting the sentence to community service. Peretz was sentenced to three months in jail.
The two also received suspended sentences and ordered to pay NIS 1500 each in compensation to the complainants.
Border Policewoman Meirav Raphael was convicted of participating in one of the robberies, and was given a suspended sentence and ordered to pay NIS 1500 in compensation.