Elor Azariya in court
Elor Azariya in courtFLASH90

Army prosecutors filed an appeal Tuesday at an IDF court in Tel Aviv against the 18-month jail sentence handed down to Sgt. Elor Azariya, after he was convicted in January of manslaughter in the shooting death of a wounded Arab terrorist in Hevron last March.

The prosecution’s challenge comes after Azariya defense team attorney Yoram Sheftel filed a separate appeal on behalf of Azariya, arguing his punishment was excessively harsh given the circumstances.

Prosecutor Nadav Weissman argued that the sentence appeared to be disconnected from the ruling of the court in January convicting Azariya, claiming 18-months was an insufficient punishment. The prosecution had requested 3 to 5 years.

In the appeal, the prosecution slightly reduced its request, calling for a minimum of 2.5 years in jail.