Protest tent; Photo credit: Free use
See here for a list of posts connected to the case.
Monday, January 11, 2021
8:32 Over 15 protesters detained last night
Last night, throughout Israel, over 15 protesters were detained at demonstrations protesting the death of Ahuvia Sandak, z”l.
In Tzfat, three protesters were detained, at the Shilo Junction, four, in the area of Hasmonaim, six, and in the Shomron, three. Some of them will be brought today to court deliberations. Honenu Attorneys provided the detainees with legal counsel and will represent them in court.
Among other locations, demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, Nof Ayalon, Gush Etzion, Kiryat Gat, Tzfat, at the String Bridge in Jerusalem, the Kommemiut Junction, the Ariel Junction, the Negohot Junction, and at various intersections in Yehuda and Shomron.
12:10 Witnesses verbally harassed
Honenu received a written reply to a complaint filed with the police against police investigators for hurtful and racist statements made to the father of one of the detainees interrogated in the investigation of the police car chase in which Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, was killed. The letter was sent from the Office of the Legal Advisor to the Israeli Police and written by Attorney Nir Gatenio and states that “We are prevented from handling your complaint against the policemen while criminal proceedings are in process relating to the claims made in the complaint. After the criminal proceedings have been completed and in light of their results, you will be able to file another complaint with our department.”
Honenu Attorney Nati Rom responded that the reply was scandalous and the conduct of the investigatory team was lacking. “Together with the cover-up attempts by the Israeli Police and by the investigators leading the investigation of the incident, they showed hurtful treatment including racist statements and attempts to intimidate the witnesses instead of genuinely striving to reach the truth. One after the other, the witnesses left their interrogations and said that racist and hurtful statements had been shouted at them.”
Mr. Gozlan, the father of one of the detainees was summoned to an interrogation and he also related that he suffered harsh insults, both personal and directed at the general religious community. He said that his wife received similar treatment under interrogation. From the complaint filed by Rom: “Throughout the interrogation, the interrogator, Senior Staff Sergeant Major Avitan, shouted harsh insults at my client, called him a liar several times, and added a hurtful insult directed towards the religious public as a whole: ‘You with the kippa, the payot, and the tzitziot, you’re all a gang of criminals.’ From time to time during the lengthy interrogation Commander Grossman entered the room and joined the verbal abuse that Senior Staff Sergeant Major Avitan directed at Mr. Gozlan.”
Rom added “Parents who come to testify should not be treated like this. Such unacceptable conduct must be denounced, and I hope that the Israeli Police will know to denounce it. At this moment, unfortunately, the reply that we received is unacceptable. It appears that the Israeli Police are continuing their cover-up attempts.”
13:38 Urgent deliberation scheduled
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court scheduled an urgent deliberation for Wednesday, January 13, on the request by the Sandak family
Honenu Attorney Ariel Atari, who is representing the family: “We welcome the urgency with which Judge Weinshall regards the need for determining and clarifying the circumstances of Ahuvia’s death. This urgency is conspicuous in contrast with the failure of the State of Israel to respond to the request, despite the court’s decision.”
15:45 Girls harassed by soldiers at demonstration
On the morning of Monday, January 11, the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court rejected the request by the police to obligate Attorney Yehuda Shimon, a Shomron resident who reprimanded Lieutenant Colonel Ayub Kayuf and the soldiers under his command for physically harassing girls, to sign on bail.
On Saturday night, during a demonstration at the Kedumim Junction, Shimon saw soldiers touching girls in an invasive manner. Shimon approached the soldiers to reprimand them and, as a video clip documents, he was surrounded by the soldiers who brutally assaulted and injured him.
Soldier assaulting Yehuda Shimon; Video credit: Free use
Afterwards it turned out that one of the soldiers was Lieutenant Colonel Ayub Kayuf, who claimed that Shimon had assaulted him. Shimon was briefly detained and then released immediately after the incident. He came on his own accord to the police station the following afternoon and was unconditionally released after interrogation. However, because he refused to sign on bail, a deliberation was scheduled at the Petah Tikva Magistrates Court for Monday morning. Shimon was present in the courtroom when the request for him to sign bail was rejected.
Attorney Yehuda Shimon, a well-known and respected personage in the Shomron, commented that the court’s decision is another indication that the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit had created a big story out of nothing.
16:30 Honenu details flaws in investigation
Honenu Attorney Menashe Yado wrote a letter to Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Affairs, Shlomo (Mumi) Lemberger, detailing the flaws in the investigation by the Police Investigation Unit (PIU) of the police car chase which resulted in the death of Ahuvia Sandak, z”l.
Yado explained that he understood from Lemberger’s letter that the Deputy Attorney General gave the head of the PIU unlimited trust, however as far as he and the public were concerned, their confidence in the investigation had already been damaged. Additionally, Yado wrote that the information indicates many flaws in the investigation. “The starting point of someone on the outside is ‘respect, but also suspect,’ or be wary while respecting. We are already past that place. As spectators from the side, watching the the process of the investigation, we already have many indications that there have been serious flaws and distortions in the investigation.
“The indications will be fully examined immediately after we receive the investigative material at the times set by law.” Yado decided to compile the flaws and to arrange all of the material into one document. In his letter he detailed the flaws in the work by the police investigators and the flaws in the investigation by the PIU.
Yado enumerated six central failings by the police, among them “the description of the accident in the requests to detain [the injured youths as suspects] while consistently and intentionally omitting mention of the police car ramming and damaging the youths’ car.” Another failing is “the description of the accident in a false claim verbally before the court in a deliberation on 28/12/2020 in which the fact that the police car collided with the youths’ car, which overturned, was omitted.”
Yado wrote that the claim “was a lie. This lie was knowingly stated. Later in the court minutes the investigators discussed the expert opinion of the police traffic inspector who described the car ramming. Policemen lied for the benefit of other policemen so that the remand of the youths would be extended. The lie itself under these circumstances borders on a criminal offense.”
An additional failing is the omission of the fact that the car the youths were driving belonged to the Sandak family according to a search on the police car console. Also, the interrogators treated the policemen positively during interrogation, saying that they had risked their lives and “done holy work”. Whereas the interrogators related to the claims against the policemen as defamation.
The last flaw that Yado enumerated was the failure of the police investigators to inform the judges ruling on the youths’ remand of the suspicions of the PIU investigatory team with regards to the police action reports of the policemen involved with the car ramming. “According to the letter by Mr. Moshe Sa’ada [Deputy Director of the PIU] the head of the investigatory team suspected that the delay – a five-hour delay – in filling out the reports was intentional. This information and these suspicions concerning the reports that were prepared by the PIU were not brought before the judge ruling on the youths’ remand with regards to the requests filed by the Central Unit of the Tel Aviv Police against the youths, and that is an additional distortion of justice.”
Afterwards, Yado enumerated six more failings in the work by the PIU, among them the decision of the PIU head to release the policemen without interrogation under warning and without detaining them on suspicion of tampering with evidence in the case of a death, and also delaying the interrogation of the policemen until Thursday, 24/12/2020.
With regards to the latter, Yado wrote that “there is no precedence for delaying investigation of suspicion of causing death for three days. This is an unprecedented failing for the Attorney General’s office and not only unprecedented but rather incomprehensible in relation to what is accepted and expected.”
Yado also cited releasing the policemen from the interrogation without the condition of not making contact with each other and how the investigation completely ignored the conduct of the police after the youths’ car overturned.
“On 6/1/2021, the medic who was first on the scene was interviewed on a major news program on Channel 20 [Israeli]. The medic stated that he had not been summoned to testify to the PIU. Over two weeks have passed since the accident and the PIU has not summoned for testimony the medic who arrived first on the scene.”
Another claim is that the PIU did not summon the youths to file an official complaint with the PIU after they were released from the detention center. Despite the fact that on 27/12/2020 the PIU was informed in writing that the minors had been released and that they were joining the complaint in the crime victim case because they had been injured and evacuated to the hospital. “Since the [PIU was informed] a week and a half has passed, and the minors have not been summoned to testify. The youths experienced the incident. They have testimony to give. How can the charges against the policemen be investigated without taking testimony from the youths?”
Yado concluded: “These are the doubts we have regarding the flaws in the proceedings. We do not have access to the proceedings and cannot investigate the doubts. As someone who is involved with the proceedings and stands at the head of his department, we present to you the doubts so that the matter may be settled, because the trust that you place in the proceedings is based on our doubts of it and so that the flaws will be corrected concurrently.”
“The opinion of the traffic inspector we brought mentions a car ramming, which does not correspond to the announcement by [police reporter] Moshe Nusbaum in the media that the policemen will not be indicted.”
National Police Headquarters; Photo credit: Free use
21:50 Tonight’s demonstrations
Also tonight, demonstrations protesting the death of Ahuvia Sandak, z”l, will be held in various locations throughout Israel.
Currently, a demonstration is taking place opposite the National Police Headquarters in Jerusalem. Several protesters have been detained There are reports of clashes with policemen and attempts to block the street and the light rail. Honenu Attorneys are providing legal counsel to the detainees.
Starting today, every day there will be a protest vigil opposite the Office of the Public Security Minister in Jerusalem from 9:00 to 21:00. A protest tent has been set up. Many public figures and activists are expected to visit the tent. Rabbis will also hold classes at the site in memory of Ahuvia, z”l. The protesters are demanding that Public Security Minister Amir Ohana form an external investigative committee to examine the conduct of the Central Unit of Yehuda and Shomron Police in general and the death of Ahuvia in particular.
Ariel Junction; Photo credit: Free use
Currently, additional demonstrations are taking place in Ariel, Kommemiut, Gush Etzion, Beit Shemesh, various intersections in Yehuda and Shomron and other locations.
Shomron Brigade Base; Photo credit: Free use