Minors detained, interrogated without meeting with attorney

Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 16:37 On the morning of Tuesday, May 29 detectives from the Central Unit of the Yehuda and Shomron Police and the GSS detained three minors in Bnei Brak at the home of one of them. The GSS and the police presented a search warrant issued by the Rishon LeTzion Magistrate Court approximately one month previously, conducted a search and then detained the minors on suspicion of damaging Arab property. Two of the minors are forbidden to meet with an attorney.
The family stated that some of the security forces who conducted the search were plain-clothes and refused to identify themselves or to present police badges. One of the minors was released in the afternoon after giving testimony and was not interrogated under caution. Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar, who is representing the minors, filed an urgent appeal to the district court to cancel the order preventing a meeting with an attorney.
An additional minor, an approximately 15-year-old Shomron resident, was detained at his home. The detention warrant had been issued approximately one month previously. After his interrogation in the morning the police notified Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar that the minor would be brought only the following day to a court deliberation, 24 hours later, after the maximum length of time the police are allowed to keep a detainee without a judge’s decision. Keidar filed an urgent appeal on the decision with the Rishon LeTzion Magistrate Court, and noted that the minor had been interrogated by the police only a few days ago, after the detention warrant was issued, and released immediately upon completion of the interrogation. Rishon LeTzion Magistrate Court Judge Eyal Cohen ordered the police to give a response to the appeal by 17:00 on the same day.
Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar, who is representing the minors, stated that, “Unfortunately we have heard again that a detainee has been prohibited from meeting with an attorney. This is a drastic step which is supposed to be reserved for extreme situations. Without minimizing the situation, the detainee is a minor and the charges are only property misdemeanors. These decisions are a danger to democracy, a danger to the judicial system and an attempt to raise the bar, and not in the proper instances. I hope that the appeal which we filed with the court will be accepted, and that the court will express its dissatisfaction with the conduct of the GSS.”

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