RAMALLAH, July 15 (JMCC) - An Israeli military court has convicted a soldier and his commander of shooting a bound Palestinian with a rubber-coated bullet in the village of
Nilin two years ago.
The affair unfolded after Lt. Col. Omri Burberg was filmed holding the blindfolded and bound prisoner and ordering Staff Sgt. Leonardo Korea to fire a rubber bullet his leg. The Palestinian, 27-year-old Ashraf Abu Rahme, was lightly wounded in the incident.
Burberg and Korea were charged with unbecoming behavior after a military-police investigation into the affair. Burberg was transferred following the incident from his post in Battalion 71 to the armored corps training grounds at Tze'elim.
In response to the relatively light charges, four civil-rights organizations petitioned the High Court of Justice on behalf of Abu Rahme, requesting that the court order the Military Advocate General to change the charge to something more serious.
Military Advocate General Avichai Mandelblit responded by adding attempted threat and behavior unfitting for a commander to the charges against Burburg, and illegal use of a weapon to the charges against Korea.
Read the story at
Haaretz...