The Jerusalem District Court acquitted a chareidi man of a series of serious offenses in which the young man was charged in connection to Peleg protests in Yerushalayim.

The story began about two years ago, during demonstrations against the arrest of a young chareidi man, when hundreds of demonstrators protested against his arrest throughout the country. In one of the demonstrations near the Bar Ilan Junction in Jerusalem, the police arrested a young chareidi man violently, claiming he had torched a garbage can, threw stones at vehicles and attacked policemen.

A serious indictment was filed against the young man in the Jerusalem District Court and the State Prosecutor’s Office announced that she would seek a severe prison sentence. The youth was charged, among other things, with offenses of rioting, throwing stones at vehicles, attempting to attack police officers under aggravated circumstances, attempted arson, creating a danger on the roads, and assaulting a policeman under aggravated circumstances.

From the beginning the young man claimed that this was a case of mistaken identity and that he had not committed any offense. Attorney Itamar Ben-Givir, who was hired by the Vaad to Save Torah, claimed that the only identifying feature of the young man was that the young man was wearing a white shirt and claimed that the police stood a long way from the demonstration and could have easily erred in their identification of the suspect.

The defense presented video footage taken by one of the neighbors at the site, which clearly showed that there was a fair number of chareidi men present wearing white shirts, contrary to the testimonies of the police, who stated he was the only one who wore a white shirt without a jacket.

Justice Avraham Rubin acquitted the defendant of most serious offenses against him. Judge Rubin stated that because of the distance of the policemen from the person in which they watched the perpetrator of the offenses, due to the large number of people standing in the place, some of whom also wore a white shirt too, and due to the commotion at the beginning of the chase, it is impossible to determine that the police identified the defendant as the perpetrator of the offenses.

Regarding police allegations the defendant assaulted a police commander, the judge also acquitted the young man and ruled that because the officer had beaten the defendant and only later pushed him, the defendant was not referring to the attack, but rather “in a purely instinctive response to the blow that the defendant was being subjected to.”

As for the claim that the defendant tried to escape at the door of the police vehicle, the judge ruled that he was not convinced that such an event took place and acquitted the young man of this offense as well.

Attorney Itamar Ben-Givir, who was hired by the Vaad, told the media on Wednesday: “The prosecution’s flagship case against the chareidi demonstrators has collapsed and I am satisfied that a file that started with a big blast ends with a weak response.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)