Judge: There is no evidence that “Lehava” people committed an offense. Atty. Ben Gvir: The judgment for Ben Zikri is like that for the Brig. Gen.
Elnatan Amitai, Yemanim, 28/6/20
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court ordered to release Moshe Ben Zikri and another ‘Lehava’ activist unconditionally and rejected the police request to delay carrying out the decision. Ben Zikri was arrested early this morning when police broke into his home and he was brought to a detention hearing. The police requested that he be remanded for 48 hours.
His attorney, Itamar Ben Gvir, interrogated the central police unit representative, who admitted that there is no suspicion that he (Ben Zikri) committed an offense, but that there is a future concern. Atty. Ben Gvir claimed that Ben Zikri’s judgment should be that of Brig. Gen. Haskel, as well as freedom of speech for the Right.
Also, the lawyer for the second suspect, Atty. Zochovsky, claimed that there is no reasonable suspicion and that his client must be released. Judge Scapa Shapiro ruled that there is not enough evidence that an offense was committed. Likewise, there is no evidence of a conspiracy. The judge accepted Atty. Ben Gvir’s claims and ruled that when there is no reasonable suspicion, holding the prisoner cannot be ordered, and the request was rejected.
The police had asked for a delay in carrying out the decision in order to appeal to the District Court, but Atty. Ben Gvir objected, claiming that if the judge orders the arrest even for one hour, then her decision will become a dead letter. Judge Shapiro accepted his claim and ruled that it is usually appropriate to delay implementation, but since the court ruled that it has no authority to do so, he should be released unconditionally.
