A plea bargain that was signed in May 2019 by the minor A, the co-defendant in the July 31, 2015 Duma village arson-murder where three members of an Arab family perished, absolves the accused of any connection to the murders. Instead, he confessed to some price tag violations – setting fire to a car in the Arab village of Yasuf, burning down a garage/storeroom in the village of Aqraba, and puncturing car tires in Beit Safafa, Jerusalem.
Now it appears that A (an adult by now, B”H), who was tortured in the Shin Bet dungeons and kept in isolation in a security prison for several years, will not spend another day behind bars.
President of the District Court in Lod, Judge Ruth Lorch, who threw out A’s forced confessions, on Monday referred him to the community service administrator for an evaluation of his suitability for serving out his penalty in that capacity. The judge then postponed A’s sentencing, due next week, for a month and a half.
In a court hearing on A’s sentencing a few weeks ago, his attorneys asked not to impose an additional sentence over the two years and eight months he had already spent in jail before being released to house arrest until the end of his court proceedings. The state prosecution asked for more years in jail, on top of his time spent behind bars. The court’s decision to postpone the sentencing and the inquiry with the community service administrator suggests the court may be looking at keeping A out of prison.
