2022-09-06

West Bank

West Bank / Announcement / Core Program

The monitoring team of MUSAWA documented the trial proceedings in the case of the murder of community activist Nizar Banat, which was held at the military court’s headquarters in Ramallah today, Tuesday, 06/09/2022. The team's attention was drawn to the fact that the defendants were present at the trial session as free men, even though the court did not issue a release order during the previous court hearings. The team looked into the circumstances of the release, in which MUSAWA learned, from close and well-informed sources, that the defendants’ attorney had previously applied for the release of the defendants during the judicial holiday and this request was not submitted during the trial sessions. The military court decided to issue an order of release on a combined bail of 70 thousand dinars to ensure their attendance in the trial sessions after their release, the first of which was today's session and under the guarantee of their security agencies. The defendants and their guarantors (Their security agencies) shall pay the bail to the treasury if any of the defendants fails to show up to court.

The team documented the proceedings of today’s session, that was about presenting the defense’s evidence, and the court’s rejection of the defense attorney’s request to hand in an official letter from the ministry of justice stating that two of the prosecution witnesses are not experts accredited by the ministry of justice. The prosecution objected to the request claiming it is illegal and futile, as the witnesses are experts accredited by their agencies, which is sufficient. In addition, there is no legal obligation for the expert to obtain accreditation from the ministry of justice. The court accepted the defense’s request by issuing a memo to a defense witness residing in Hebron obliging him to bring another witness living outside the country, because the court does not have jurisdiction over someone living outside the country.

06/09/2022