Soldier claims police 'brutally' beat him, concealed evidence

• Published date: 26 September 2021
• Author: MATAN WASSERMAN/MAARIV
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

L., a soldier in a classified unit in the Air Force, was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of possessing several grams of cannabis during a vacation.

Having already been handcuffed, police officers - according to his lawyers - acted with "severe violence." The police claimed that they used "reasonable force" on him after he began to act up. Another hearing on his case is expected on Sunday.

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Attorneys Ofir and Limor Bramley, representing the soldier, said: "On Friday morning, our client, a soldier serving in a classified unit in the Air Force, was arrested by Israel Police detectives on suspicion of possessing a small number of soft drugs. During the arrest, the police brutally beat our client on all parts of his body and continued to beat him wildly even after he was handcuffed.

"The police were not satisfied with this," they added, "and even took care to press on the handcuffs already on his wrists - to hurt him in response to his trying to document the violent arrest. When he was transferred for interrogation by the IDF, we asked the military police investigators to document the bruises on his body so that he could file a complaint with the Justice Ministry's Police Investigation Department (PID).

"To our amazement, IDF investigators refused to photograph him without giving any explanation. Our client is working to file a complaint regarding the use of severe violence against him by the PID against the violent police officers."

They added that "the decision not to photograph L. near the time the incident took place when the marks were still 'fresh on his body' is for us a classic omission of evidence. The judge understood that this was a serious incident and therefore ordered the IDF to...