Baruch Marzel
Baruch MarzelFlash 90

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court today (Monday) annulled an indictment accusing activist Baruch Marzel of assaulting his Arab neighbor Fuaz Abu Aisha.

The indictment alleges that on October 1st, 2011, residents of Tel Rumeida gathered near the house of Fu'az Abu Aisha because of their suspicion that the family stole bags of food meant for the animals at Tel Rumeida.According to the prosecution, complainant Fawaz Abu Aisha tried to mediate between the sides and find out who stole the sacks of food, but Baruch Marzel and four other settlers grabbed him - and Marzel beat him with his fist and kicked his leg, leaving bruises.

After the police filed an indictment on the basis of the allegations, Abu Aisha did not arrive at three evidentiary hearings in the case, even though he was given summonses and an order was even issued against him.A relative of Abu Ayesha, who was also a witness in the case, was brought to the court specially in order to assure his cousin's appearance to testify, but Abu Aisha did not arrive on the date set for the testimony.

Today, after the complainant and the witness on his behalf did not arrive for the third time, the court censured the complainant's and witness' conduct and the prosecution was forced to withdraw the indictment.

Baruch Marzel said in response to Arutz Sheva that "it is clear that the police and the prosecution will always prefer even the testimony of Arab thieves to Jews. I've been in several cases that never happened and I was nevertheless convicted."

He adds sarcastically, "The Arabs like Baruch Marzel, and as the police issued the summons the Arabs said, 'We love our neighbor and don't want to testify against him'."

Attorney Yitzhak Bam, who represented Marzel, added, "For six years the complainant manipulated the police and had his way with them, all in order to close his brother's theft file.The police and court wasted time and money on a false complaint.It's time they started prosecuting those who make manipulative false complaints."

"בית המשפט בזבז זמן על תלונת שווא"אלירן אהרון