"In the State of Israel, indictments are not issued in order to please one sector of the public or another," a senior Justice Ministry official said Sunday night in response to harsh criticism against
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision not to try police officers involved in the October 2000 riots, which left 13 Israeli Arabs dead.
"Every decision is open to criticism, but the criticism is expected to be relevant and based on facts," the source explained. "The accusations and tongue-lashings in the media are not an alternative for seriously dealing with the facts."
| Mazuz Decrees |
|
| Mazuz will not indict police officers involved in October 2000 riots / Aviram Zino |
|
Attorney general decides against indicting policemen involved in riots that left 13 Israeli Arabs dead; explains: We found no evidence supporting criminal charges against any of the officers |
| Full Story |
|
|
|
Meretz Chairman Zahava Gal-On called the whole legal process surrounding the events "a chronicle of an obvious cover-up."
Mazuz decided to accept
the State's Prosecutor's Office stand saying that the State sees no reason to overturn the Police Internal Affairs Bureau's decision in the matter, which said there was not enough evidence to warrant an indictment.
The official explained that "in a law-abiding state one does not submit indictments based on speculations and gut feelings. There is one criminal law, and it stipulates clear and strict conditions for indictments that apply to any men and any event."
He added that Mazuz's decision stemmed, among other things, from the lack of cooperation from the victims' families and the Arab sector. "The families refused an autopsy; the families and the Arab public as a whole refused to cooperate with the investigation that took place following the riots… such a refusal bears consequences."
According to the source, "In some cases, in light of the evidence, it could not be ruled out on a level required for criminal indictment the possibility that the forces were indeed operating under life-threatening circumstances – circumstances that provide immunity from criminal liability."
However, he added, "The deaths of 13 people is indeed a difficult and troubling result, as the Or Commission stipulated in its report. In order to ensure that the investigation has indeed been exhausted, a further, thorough and wide-scale investigation was conducted, by a very senior legal team, under the guidance of the attorney general…. And its findings and conclusions have been taken into account in the (attorney general's) decision."
RSS
