Russian Compound, Jerusalem - Remand Extension
Translation: Marganit W.
Judge: Lieut. Col. Menahem Lieberman
Police Investigator: Zayed Aktish
Defense: Judd Kadman, Ma’amoun Heshim
Two cases of remand extensions:
Wassim Hatem Muhammad Alkozi – ID 402355556
Detained since 5.1.16.
At the outset, Justice Lieberman tells the Investigator: “I am cross. There are things missing from the file: reports, details, interrogations. Please supply the information.”
The investigator goes out to bring the info.
[What will the investigators do in the meantime? Sit and reflect?]
The detainee arrives. They remove his blindfold and handcuffs. The attorneys approach the defendant and then declare: “But this is not Wassim!” The detainee tries to talk some more with the “people from the outside,” but soon the blindfold and the handcuffs are slapped back on him. Judd Kadmani says, “Well, take a breather!”
The judge says: “I hope this is not part of the game the investigators play, bringing a detainee before a judge, and since the detainee is ignorant of the law, you can tell him: You have seen a judge…” According to Justice Lieberman judges object to such legal games.
The detainee is led out of the court and the correct detainee is brought in. Lieberman asks the defense how many interrogations the detainee has undergone.
Twenty minutes later, the investigator is back with a paper torn out of a notebook with a handwritten text. I wonder who wrote this note on a torn piece of paper? We won’t know: it is handed to the judge, who reads it with no comment and then proceeds with the remand extension.
The defense attorney says he trusts the judge’s decisions.
And here is the judge’s decision
[We received the entire printed protocol, so I will quote verbatim; we can learn a thing or two from it, although after years of observations it is not new]:
“The suspect was brought in 7 days ago for remand extension. The Investigator requested 8-day extension, adding that if there is no progress, they will consider transferring the case to the military prosecution after 8 days. A secret file was added, enumerating the planned interrogations of the suspect. After examining the plan and the police’s position, I acceded to the request and ordered remand extension until today. Today, the suspect was brought in again and the police requested 4 additional days to complete the investigation and hand over the case to the prosecution. I examined the file and found that the following actions have been taken since the last hearing: report on photo identification – on 22.11.16 at 14:36- presumably this took a few minutes;
interrogation by a Shabak [GSS] officer on the same date between 13:50-14:00, namely for ten minutes, and today between 9:15-9:40 an interrogation lasting 25 minutes.
In summation: the investigation report shows that the suspect was interrogated for less than an hour since the last hearing, and there is no indication that any of the actions presented to me earlier have taken place.
I therefore requested completion of the report.
He asked the Shabak investigator to complete the report to and enumerate the other interrogations. Those, too, were carried out on 22.11.16, namely 6 days ago, one day after the previous hearing. It also says in the additional notes I have just received, that it has been decided not to carry out the additional planned actions.
It is not clear why the investigators, having decided not to carry out more interrogations, did not finish the investigation and transfer the case to the prosecution. There is no justification for keeping a man in detention needlessly. If the investigation is over, even though a few days are left until the end of the detention, the case should be handed over to the military prosecution. The detainee should not be left in the holding facility, when no interrogations are scheduled. When investigators request a certain period for interrogation, and then for some reason they do not carry out their planned action, the case must be transferred to the prosecution or the suspect must brought before a judge.
In view of all this, I am not convinced that the investigators showed due diligence in regards to this suspect’s interrogation, but since there are conclusive grounds for detention due to a strong risk factor, I order a 24-hour remand extension, until 29.11.16 at 10:45.”
This is today’s protocol from the Russian Compound. I am sure its content is similar to many other cases where the investigators just drag their feet, while the detainee, in his solitary cell, is waiting for justice.
The second detainee in the docket:
Taer Hani Hamed Zeir – ID 85487237
Without any hearing it was decided on a 24-hour extension.