Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., January 28, 2008 Shvat 21, 5768 | | Israel Time: 01:45 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Advertising Books Arts & Leisure Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

AG: No charges over 13 deaths in October riots By Yuval Yoaz The police officers involved in the deaths of 13 Arab Israelis during the riots of October, 2000, will not be indicted, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz announced yesterday. Mazuz released an official legal opinion yesterday, reaffirming the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Department (PID) decision from September, 2005 to terminate the investigation into the officers' actions. Advertisement The Arab citizens were rioting in solidarity with the Palestinian intifada which had just begun in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the riots, which lasted some 10 days, 12 Israeli Arabs and one Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip were shot and killed by Israeli police and security forces during violent demonstrations at the entrance to Umm al-Fahm. In his official declaration, Mazuz said that in addition to many evidentiary problems that stem from the long period of time that has passed since the incident, "we had to take into consideration the fact that the incident involved on-the-spot judgment in an emergency situation, under circumstances that don't justify the casting of criminal blame." He nonetheless added that this "should not be taken to mean that [involvement in] the incidents should not affect the officers' careers." He appended to the document which he released a report written by the state prosecution team, headed by assistant state prosecutor Shai Nitzan, which describes in over 500 pages the evidence gathered in the case and the difficulties that arose during the course of the investigation. The team, which included five attorneys, dedicated thousands of hours to the examination of evidence and reports compiled by the Or Commission, which was appointed to investigate the riots. Dozens of meetings were held, some attended by the attorney general. Some investigations of the actions of certain officers during the riots are still pending. In his announcement, Mazuz said that two incidents could still result in indictments against officers "since there is still a certain potential for completing this probe." The attorney general noted that exploring that "potential" would entail exhuming bodies of some of the casualties. The bodies, he explained, may contain bullets that could be cross-checked with weapons the officers had used. Legal sources told Haaretz that exhuming the bodies does not guarantee indictments, "but there is a certain chance it will bring about that result." The families of the casualties, however, have thus far refused to allow the authorities to exhume the bodies. "This refusal carries a price when it comes to conducting this investigation," the legal sources said. The release of the official ruling on the proceedings in the case was delayed by approximately one year, after the the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which is a complainant in the affair, submitted a report in late 2006 to the State Prosecutor's Office, in which it claimed that PID ignored the recommendations of the Or Commission by failing to investigate the deaths fully. The report called for the immediate prosecution of the officers involved. Mazuz said yesterday that the official document he wrote includes specific responses to the claims raised by Adalah in the 2006 report. "The end result, which was the killing of 13 people, is troubling and disturbing," Mazuz wrote in conclusion. "Yet we have only one legal system, and the law is very clear when it comes to criminal culpability and the rules for prosecution. Therefore, and in the absence of sufficient evidence for determining the culpability of the people involved in these events, there was no choice but to close the case." Adalah held a press conference after Mazuz's report was released, with the families of the 13 casualties and the head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, Shuweiki Hatib. The organization announced that they have no intention of petitioning the High Court of Justice over this matter, but announced their plan to seek international legal mediation. "We have exhausted the proceedings in Israel," Adalah director Hassan Jabareen said. "We will seek the involvement of the United Nations as well as foreign nations which have the authority to rule on universal matters." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Kitler Cat Germany's Green Party uses a cat resembling Hitler to criticize extreme rightists. Sorrymania Israel is reportedly planning to apologize to ex-Beatles for banning a concert in 1965.

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