GSS interrogators pressured brother of detainee

Saturday night, August 13 21:27 At the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court on Friday the remand of the two youths from Yitzhar held by the GSS was extended.
GSS interrogators requested an eight-day remand extension for the two detainees, who are suspected of setting on fire Arab vehicles two days after the murder of five members of the Fogel family, hy”d, in Itamar. Judge Rafi Arniya refused the request of the police but extended the remand until Monday.
During the deliberation Honenu attorney Yossi Lin, who is representing the two detainees, said that the minor in remand was interrogated until 23:00 at night, despite the fact that interrogating a minor is allowed only until 22:00. Additionally the GSS interrogators refused to allow his parents to be present during the interrogation, which has not been refused to minors accused of murder. “If there was evidence in the case, then there would be no need to interrogate so intensively and to attempt to break the legitimate right of the detainees to remain silent,” said Lin.
Additionally Honenu attorney Lin presented to the court a map of the Shomron area showing that the route from the community of Yitzhar to the village of Jinsafoot, when the arson occurred, does not pass through the Tapuah Junction, where the police claim that the two detainees were seen on the night the arson occurred. The interrogator from the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron police who represented the police in the deliberation claimed that the route did pass through the Tapuah Junction, but the map proved otherwise.
As previously stated, the court extended the remand of the two detainees until Monday, after examining classified reports from the GSS.
In a related incident, on Thursday morning police detectives arrived at the community of Elon Moreh and summoned the brother of the remanded minor for interrogation. The brother arrived at the GSS facilities, where the interrogators pressured him to persuade his brother to cooperate with the interrogation and to admit to the suspicions. The brother refused to cooperate with the GSS interrogators, who afterwards brought the remanded minor into the room and allowed the brothers to meet and even to eat together, apparently in order to break the resolve of the detainee.
In the end the brother was released from the GSS facilities after refusing to cooperate with the GSS interrogators.
In response to the remand extension Honenu attorney Yossi Lin said that, “This is an abominable interrogation which violates the suspects’ basic rights. The interrogation has reached an impasse, and therefore the interrogators are applying massive pressure on the suspects to convince them to admit to acts they did not commit. I believe that in several days the suspects will be released.”