At a Military Court hearing on Thursday that discussed the request to withdraw the indictment against the soldiers from Force 100 who are suspected of abusing an imprisoned terrorist, Chief Military Prosecutor Colonel Eli Levertov announced that the ruling in the case will be made by the incoming Military Advocate General, who will begin his term in two weeks.
In light of the statements, the court ordered the suspension of the mediation process between the Military Advocate General Corps and the soldiers’ attorney.
As an immediate result of the decision, all legal processes in the case are momentarily suspended until the incoming MAG takes office and rules on the case.
At the start of the hearing, the soldiers criticized Colonel Levertov: “What are you doing here? Are you also connected to the leak? Where is the previous prosecutor who was investigated in the case?”
Two of the soldiers are represented by attorneys Adv. Adi Kedar and Nati Rom from the Honenu organization.
Adv. Adi Kedar said at the opening of the hearing, “If the military prosecution and the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office truly and sincerely want to rehabilitate their image, the appropriate action to take today is to cancel the indictment immediately. If that does not happen, we will conduct this trial to prove the soldiers’ innocence. All branches of the military prosecution contaminated the investigation. There is no court that can convict the soldiers; their names must be cleared, and this is the least that can be done for them after what they went through. From this day forward, every moment this file continues, those who must will pay the price.”
Adv. Nati Rom added, “We hope the state itself will come and say, ‘We are cancelling the indictment.’ This is one of the most serious corruption cases the state has known, certainly within the systems of law and justice. We hope the indictment will be cancelled and the soldiers together with the State of Israel will be able to free themselves from this event and, at the same time, that the appropriate people will be found to carry out the necessary cleansing to fix this place.”
Adv. Ephraim Damari concluded, “The soldiers are innocent, and we are leaving here only with the cancellation of the indictment, or acquittal. If they do not want to cancel the indictment, we will go all the way, to a complete acquittal. Even if they want to try the case with us, there is no statute of limitations. The soldiers are expected to file claims against the prosecution, the IDF, and anyone who had a hand in the wrongdoing.”
