Now it's final: the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court decided today (Wednesday) to release Elisha Yered, the suspect of involvement in the Binyamin lynching, to house arrest. The decision was made after his arrest was postponed from yesterday following the police's appeal.
As mentioned, this morning the Supreme Court considered the prosecution's appeal against the decision of the Magistrate's Court yesterday to order the release of Yered from custody. At the end of the hearing, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ronen decided to accept the appeal and to keep him in custody until the hearing in the Magistrate's Court that is currently taking place. The judge explained her decision by stating that in any case, the next hearing is scheduled to take place shortly thereafter, so she preferred not to intervene and leave the decision to the Magistrate's Court, as it was supposed to be before the appeal was filed.
In the verdict, Ronen stated, "After reviewing the material presented and since this is a specific and focused decision, and as I do not express any opinion regarding the question of the continuation of the respondent's detention – a matter that, as mentioned, will be addressed by the Magistrate's Court considering all the material presented before it – I instruct that the execution of the District Court's decision be postponed until the hearing in the Magistrate's Court."
One-sided trial: Yered's lawyers were removed from the courtroom
Before the final decision, a particularly unusual event occurred when the judge received a special request from the General Security Service and the attorneys of Yered were removed from the courtroom during the presentation of a "special" opinion by the General Security Service. As a result, for 20 minutes, a discussion took place with only one side present – the representatives of the prosecution, the General Security Service, and the judge, facing Yered.
The absurdity continued when, according to Yered's lawyers, after the one-sided hearing, the lawyers returned and the judge had already announced that she was starting to read the decision, even before Yered's defense lawyers were allowed to present their arguments. The lawyers pointed this out to the judge and she replied to them: "Oh, that's right, then plead." And so after presenting the defense's position, the judge read her decision, which was apparently written even before hearing the arguments from Yered and his defense.
