Elor Azariya and his father
Elor Azariya and his fatherYoni Kempinski

Elor Azariya, the soldier convicted of killing a wounded terrorist in Hevron, arrived this morning (Tuesday) to the military court at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, for the beginning of the sentencing process.

The soldier was received with applause; the judges were escorted by bodyguards. Character witnesses for the defense rose one by one to the witness stand in an attempt to mitigate Azariya's sentence. The soldier himself will be allowed to take the stand and have his say.

At the opening of the hearing Azariya's attorneys demanded that the court summon the Kfir Brigade commander, Col. Guy Hazut, claiming that the conversation between the brigade commander and the father of the soldier as reported on Channel 2 contaminated the judicial process. Because of this, they also asked the judges to cancel the verdict. Prosecution objected and the judges rejected the request outright.

Charlie Azariya, the soldier's father, told the court: "We made aliya from France in 1975; my father fought in World War II against the Nazis, liberated Paris, participated in the capture of Normandy, and received a commendation for courage and bravery for not leaving his commander injured in the field."

"My older brother served 30 years in regular army, I was a Ramle police investigator for 33 years and in the Lahav 433 unit. Another brother works for the prison system. I educated my children to respect all people regardless of religion or skin color. In Ramle all my Muslim neighbors respected me, and I them," he said.

"Elor is just like his name - projecting light wherever he is," his father continued. "He was a chubby kid, but insisted on serving in combat units. He'd run in the rain to serve in a combat unit, to defend the country. Elor only knew how to give; he had Muslim and Christian friends. Elor went to the combat paramedic's course because he is outstanding, and even though he was company medic, he went to relieve his friends of guard duty even though he wasn't required to."

"I saw Elor lose his joy in life during his service as company paramedic. I realized he had a problem with his superiors. Elor told me two days before the incident, 'Dad, it's gotten worse; they keep piling tasks on me and then come to me with complaints.'"

Charlie described a case in which Elor went twelve hours without food or water while guarding a captured fugitive. "In the end they brought him food in a disposable foil tray and he decided to give it to the terrorist detainee. My wife lost weight, 38 kilos (over 80 lbs.) since the incident. I suffered a stroke and lost the ability to walk and stand for three months.

"Our family has collapsed. My brother, Elor's godfather, suffered two heart attacks during this saga. One of my daughters stopped her studies at medical school to help at home. For ten months not a single commander approached me; they've abandoned the boy. I've received threats that Hamas wants to eliminate Elor, and after the verdict we received threats that only the Palestinians will decide his verdict and kill him.

"A few days ago I found a bullet in my mailbox. There's a family behind Elor, and every leak damages and endangers us. The IDF threw away my child. The IDF is not concerned with us."

While Azariya's lawyers are trying to gain leniency, the prosecution is expected to demand he be sentenced for between three and five years in prison. The Military Prosecutor's office decided that in exchange for an expression of regret and responsibility on Azariya's part they would agree to demand the lower punishment range discussed in the trial - three years in prison.

If Azariya continues to maintain his position, the prosecution will present manslaughter precedents to establish the high range for the sentencing threshold - five years in prison.

Etti Azariya, Elor's sister, wrote yesterday on her Facebook page: "It's one second before the reopening of the charade of the whole system against one soldier, everyone's hero. An entire system that abandoned a soldier who enlisted to protect and preserve our country, saved lives and fired at a terrorist who came to take the life of Jews! An entire system that abandoned my family".

The sister further wrote, "How does it make sense to let families live in fear and threats? I ask, have we lost it? Why are they doing everything to destroy my family? For almost eleven months we have been going through a difficult and painful period, and G-d only knows how proud I am of this amazing brother of mine. Remain strong and amazing, we will not give up until we win and you go free like a butterfly."

Channel One reported last night that the soldier's family received an envelope with a rifle bullet inside and an SMS message: "We will kill Elor soon." Security for the family was beefed up.