Last update - 00:00 28/08/2007
Peres reduces sentence of five men convicted in murder of teen
By Anshel Pfeffer and Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondents
President Shimon Peres has reduced the sentence of five men convicted of the December 1983 murder of teenager Danny Katz, Channel 10 television reported Tuesday.
The president's office issued a statement on Tuesday declaring that Peres had "fully accepted the recommendations of the Justice Ministry" in deciding to reduce the sentences.
The Justice Ministry has not made any statements on what recommendations they made to Peres.
The reduction means that the five men will be eligible for release soon, as a third of their sentence was canceled as a result of Peres' decision.
The five were first arrested just days after the murder, but were released a few weeks later when no evidence tying them to the crime could be found.
In March 1984, the five were arrested again and after several remands and a very lengthy trial they were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment plus 27 years.
Former chief justice Aharon Barak in 1999 decided that the five were eligible for a retrial, and two months later three of them were released on bond. Two others, Ahmed Kousli and Wataf Sabihi, were convicted of the murder of Daphna Carmon in 1987 and were not eligible for release on bond as they were serving a life sentence for that crime.
The retrial ended in March 2002 after the High Court of Justice found the five defendants guilty on all counts. The presiding judge in the case issued a statement after the verdict was reached stating that in spite of faults in the police investigation of the crime, the five men were all guilty of murder and kidnapping, and there was no reason to question the decisions of the Tel Aviv court in the matter.
The defendants issued an appeal of their verdict in 2005, arguing that they were convicted based solely on confessions they gave only after they were subjected to repeated threats and beatings. They maintain that their confessions were therefore not given in the "free and willful" manner required by law.
The five argued that their retrial "lacked structure" after one of the presiding judges was replaced midway through due to a sudden illness.
They also testified that the retrial was merely a "replay" of the original trial, and did not answer any of the questions raised by Barak in his decision to call a retrial in 1999.
The court denied the defendants appeal and reaffirmed the verdict handed down by the court in 2002.