Sunday, December 20, 2015, 20:22 New details of abuse in the GSS dungeons have been revealed. During deliberations on Sunday, December 20 the attorneys and family of one of the minors detained in the Kfar Duma case who had been severely tortured by GSS interrogators became aware that he had attempted suicide by slitting his wrists due to the physical and emotional pressure applied to him. During one of the deliberations the minor presented the marks on his wrists to the court. Additionally the minor’s pleas to a judge during the time of his remand were revealed. See here for more details on the abuse of detainees by GSS interrogators.
Following this, the minor was examined by the district psychiatrist who ordered that he be under constant surveillance, and determined that he is under emotional pressure as a result of the interrogations. Also it was revealed that the minor was being treated with pills by the detention center doctor due to his difficulty sleeping as a result of the interrogations and the torture.
Furthermore, it turned out that at deliberations during the time of his remand the minor raised serious claims before Judge Erez Nurieli, as he cried and begged the judge to intervene in the interrogations and order that the torture be stopped.
“I plead with his honor, the judge, I cannot stand this any longer,” said the youth, according to documentation revealed to the family. “Does the court have a way to control the interrogation? They are bending me into a bow with my arms and holding me upside-down until my arms feel like they are burning. I feel as if they are burning me with a lighter. Every day the level of torture increases and I do not know what tomorrow will be.”
According to statements made at a deliberation on Sunday, December 20, during the first days of the minor’s remand the violence was relatively “mild”. The minor complained that when he sat with his arms handcuffed behind his back and his head slumped, one of the interrogators grabbed his head and his hands and, “kicked me in the chest. As a result I could not breathe for several minutes.”
He also said that the interrogator kicked him in the legs several times. At this point the youth asked to consult an attorney and said that he was interrogated on Shabbat as his interrogators played music.
However after several days of relatively “mild” emotional and physical pressure the torture began to be more severe, and the youth implored the judge, saying that he could not suffer any more and that he preferred to die.
“I didn’t sleep last night and I won’t be able to sleep tonight unless something changes,” said the youth to the judge, according to sources involved with the case, when they asked him what his condition was. “They are violently interrogating me about something with which I can’t help them because I don’t know anything. They are breaking me, twisting my back, laughing at me, looking at me contemptuously. What the hell am I supposed to do? How can I defend myself? They are accusing me of something, showing me names. They think I am connected [to the case], but I don’t know anything, and I can’t say names because I don’t know any, even if they kill me.
“For an entire night they abused me and there was no progress because I can’t help them. Now the abuse will just increase and increase more. I screamed like an idiot and cried like a baby, and they laughed ‘murderer, murderer’. What refuge did I have? Anything? Don’t they have doubts? Maybe I really am correct? This is the biggest injustice that the State of Israel has done to anyone.”
The judge asked the minor if anyone had given him a medical injection which he was supposed to receive. The youth answered, “I prefer not to receive any medication. Just so that they won’t hit me, I am willing to admit to anything, but I don’t know how to explain it. Just so that they leave me alone.”
The youth continued and requested medical treatment for his back due to how it had been stretched and tortured, and burst out crying as he said, “I can’t take it any more.” The judge said that he will hear the youth’s attorney’s pleas during the deliberation, however the youth, who is still under a ban from meeting with his attorney, answered: “The attorney does not know what they are doing to me. All night they abuse me. I told them to kill me, to bring me poison, I implore you, your honor the judge, I can’t take it any more.
Honenu Attorney Adi Kedar, who is representing the minor: “Today [December 20], we presented to the court the clearly visible marks of a suicide attempt on the arms of a minor. It is completely the result of the torture which he suffered during the GSS interrogations,” said Kedar.
“Additionally, today we were exposed to the terrible continuation of the saga in which we were informed that everything which the detainee reported to us, he had already pleaded before the court while he was banned from meeting with an attorney. He [the minor] described all of the shocking goings-on and no-one said a word or raised a comment. This is a shocking thing. It should worry us that the judicial system is working hand-in-hand with the Attorney General’s office, the police and the GSS.”
Honenu: “The things to which we were exposed during this case are shocking and terrible. The individuals responsible crossed all of the red lines and decided to shed the blood of Jewish youths, plain and simple. The State of Israel has experienced a travesty of justice and unfortunately there does not seem to be anyone taking responsibility for the likely ramifications of these processes on society in Israel.”
Recent posts on the Kfar Duma case:
Two Kfar Duma case detainees to be released, December 20, 2015
Detainee’s mother faints in court, December 16, 2015
Open letter from Kochav HaShachar: “Red lines have been crossed.”, December 9, 2015
Detainees not allowed to lay tefillin, light Hanukkah candles, December 8, 2015
GSS interrogated detainee’s relatives, December 6, 2015