Since the death of Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, who was tragically killed in a police-car chase on 6 Tevet, 5781 (December 21, 2020), Honenu has been representing those who are insisting on investigating the incident and defending the many who are detained while demonstrating for a change in police behavior. The car Ahuvia was in, with four other boys, overturned when the police car collided with it from behind. Please click here for a list of posts connected to the case.
Ahuvia Sandak, z”l; Photo courtesy of the family
Sunday, March 31, 2024, 15:49 Four years ago, a minor was detained without cause during a protest in Jerusalem one week after the death of Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, and his rights were violated. Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado, who is representing the minor, filed a suit against the police. The Jerusalem Magistrates Court awarded the minor NIS 14,500 compensation.
The statement of claim describes the minor’s baseless detention: “On December 28, 2020, the plaintiff took part in a protest that was held at Bar Ilan Junction [in Jerusalem] in the evening. When the plaintiff crossed the street at a crosswalk, at a green light, police officers jumped on him and pulled him to the side of the street. Shocked and startled, the plaintiff begged the police officers to tell him what they were doing to him, if he was being arrested or detained. But they rejected all of his pleas on the pretext that they would tell him later. The plaintiff was detained and taken to a police car. None of the officers who took him identified themselves. The officers transported the plaintiff in the police car to the Lev HaBira Police Station where he was forced to spend the entire night. The entire time that he was at the station he was not interrogated. Not a thing was done that justified or served as a reason for his detention. The plaintiff was caused great distress by the violation of his right to protest, the false detention, and the illegal manner in which it was carried out.”
Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado welcomed the court ruling: “At the frequent, at times daily, demonstrations protesting the circumstances of Ahuvia’s death, the police falsely detained dozens of youths and held them in police stations overnight. During protests at Bar Ilan Junction in Jerusalem, the police spray water cannons at every Hareidi Jew who dares to walk on a nearby street. On the other hand, at protests on Kaplan Street against judicial reform, there is an unwritten agreement understood by the media and the legal system that demonstrators have license to set the streets on fire and all but overturn police cars. Every day, every hour, we do our part to rectify the failures of the Israeli government. We have filed dozens of suits over injustices committed against right-wing protesters. We hope that in the end, we will garner more and more successes on individual and community levels.”