The sentence was handed down after the plea bargain was accepted by the court. Today (Tuesday), the Tel Aviv District Court imposed a practical sentence of 16 years in prison on Eden Mizrahi, who murdered Yuri Volkov, of blessed memory, at a pedestrian crossing in Holon in 2022.
The sentence was imposed after the plea bargain between him and the prosecution was accepted by the court's majority opinion. According to the plea bargain, Mizrahi was convicted of murder in negligence – and as a result, he was not sentenced to life imprisonment. The prosecution explained that the lenient sentence was given due to "considerable evidentiary difficulties in the case."
As a reminder, according to the original indictment, in November 2022, Yuri and his partner Yelena were on one of the main streets in Holon. While crossing a pedestrian crossing on a green light, Mizrahi arrived at the scene riding a motorcycle at high speed, crossed the pedestrian crossing, and stopped thereafter, despite the traffic light being red.
When Yelena saw Mizrahi riding the motorcycle in a dangerous manner towards pedestrians, she filmed him with her mobile phone and asked him to continue on his way, while at this stage she also parted with Yuri who turned to another direction. Mizrahi, who noticed he was photographed by Yelena, followed her and approached her in a threatening manner, demanding that she delete the picture she took.
At this stage, Yuri, who arrived at the scene and asked Mizrahi "what happened? What happened?" Yuri stood between Yelena and Mizrahi, who returned and asked him, "What do you want?" And asked him to continue driving. In response, Mizrahi pulled a sharp object from his clothes and stabbed him in the heart with the intention of killing him. Immediately afterwards, Mizrahi fled the scene as he rode his motorcycle at high speed.
Following the incident, Yuri took several steps, collapsed on the sidewalk and was rushed to the hospital, where he died an hour later as a result of a shock due to a stab wound to the heart.