Supreme Court releases minor in Kfar Duma case

Sunday, July 15, 2018, 10:11 Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf rejected the appeal filed by the State of Israel and paved the way for the release from remand of the minor in Kfar Duma case. The Attorney General’s office had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on the July 12 Central District Court decision which ordered the release of the minor to house arrest under strict restrictive conditions including surveillance, an electronic ankle cuff, and prohibitions on making contact with certain individuals.
Attorney Tzion Amir stated that, “Without a doubt the rejection by the Supreme Court of the appeal by the State was fair and just. Although the two and a half years of the legal struggle were lengthy and arduous, they have passed and there are two reasons to be consoled. One is the minor’s release from remand, and the other is the Supreme Court decisions on the torture which the minor underwent during interrogations that resulted in the invalidation of his confessions due to their being extracted by inappropriate means.
“I very much hope that the Attorney General’s office will study and internalize the standpoint which was brought in the Central District Court’s decision and also by the Supreme Court, and will consider canceling the legal proceedings, or at least the majority of them, which they are handling against the minor.”
Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar added that, “It would have been better had the State of Israel not filed the appeal at all. The appeal symbolized the persecution and continued torture of the minor, and mainly the lack of internalization and acceptance by the Attorney General’s office of the verdict in the trial within a trial.
“The Supreme Court accepted our claims, as had the Central District Court in its ruling, and ruled that the decision in the trial within a trial greatly diminished the strength of the evidence, especially concerning the serious accusations.
“Following the invalidation of the evidence [the confessions extracted under torture], which constitutes the decisive conclusion of the first stage of the trial, we are currently able to handle the case with the minor released, until his complete exoneration.”
Attorney Tzion Amir and Honenu Attorney Adi Keidar are representing the minor.