The Legal Forum has provided the expelled Gush Katif and Northern Shomron residents with legal advice and advocacy for two years. It now offers its services to the youths whose cases remain open and pending.
Hundreds of youths were arrested last summer in connection with their protests of the expulsion and unilateral withdrawal - usually for blocking roads and related activities. In some cases, the charges were upgraded to "hitting a policeman" or the like. Many of the cases remain open, however, having been neither closed nor brought to trial.
The Land of Israel Legal Forum has asked Mazuz to close all such cases that are over a year old.
Clause 14 of the Juvenile Law (Judgment, Punishment and Manner of Treatment, 5731-1971) states, "A juvenile must not be tried for a crime if a year has passed since it was committed, without the consent of the Attorney General." The Forum therefore asks Mazuz to specifically close the cases.
In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled that an indictment must not be handed down against one who was a minor at the time of the crime and has since then turned 18, unless he turned 18 within a year of the crime.
"Many files and cases are rolling around on mysterious paths between the police and the prosecution," the Forum states in its letter to Mazuz, "without a decision having been reached to close them or to act upon them and file an indictment... For the most part, these cases deal with minor offenses of 'disturbing the public order' and with normative minors... The chance that indictments will actually be served in these cases is very small. What purpose is served, therefore, in keeping them open?"
The Forum states that the current "in limbo" situation is liable to harm the minors in many areas such as enlisting in the army and finding a job. "We are of the opinion that these cases should be closed immediately," the letter concludes.
Hundreds of youths were arrested last summer in connection with their protests of the expulsion and unilateral withdrawal - usually for blocking roads and related activities. In some cases, the charges were upgraded to "hitting a policeman" or the like. Many of the cases remain open, however, having been neither closed nor brought to trial.
The Land of Israel Legal Forum has asked Mazuz to close all such cases that are over a year old.
Clause 14 of the Juvenile Law (Judgment, Punishment and Manner of Treatment, 5731-1971) states, "A juvenile must not be tried for a crime if a year has passed since it was committed, without the consent of the Attorney General." The Forum therefore asks Mazuz to specifically close the cases.
In addition, the Supreme Court has ruled that an indictment must not be handed down against one who was a minor at the time of the crime and has since then turned 18, unless he turned 18 within a year of the crime.
"Many files and cases are rolling around on mysterious paths between the police and the prosecution," the Forum states in its letter to Mazuz, "without a decision having been reached to close them or to act upon them and file an indictment... For the most part, these cases deal with minor offenses of 'disturbing the public order' and with normative minors... The chance that indictments will actually be served in these cases is very small. What purpose is served, therefore, in keeping them open?"
The Forum states that the current "in limbo" situation is liable to harm the minors in many areas such as enlisting in the army and finding a job. "We are of the opinion that these cases should be closed immediately," the letter concludes.