A Jerusalem court has ordered the police to compensate a citizen who received a warning call from police without reason.
The call was made before the Jerusalem Pride Parade, when the citizen had no intention of protesting against the parade, and had not done so in the past.
According to the verdict, the police will have to pay the citizen and his attorney approximately 3,000 shekels.
The Honenu legal aid organization, which represents the citizen, claims that the verdict includes a precedential defense of civil rights.
The incident took place approximately a year and a half ago, shortly before the parade took place in Jerusalem.
According to the statement of claim, a police officer contacted the citizen from a private number and warned him not to dare to break the law at the parade. During the conversation, the citizen attempted to understand who was speaking, but the police officer refused to identify himself as required by law, and the citizen claimed that he heard the officer continuing to type in a computer, making him feel as if he was being interrogated.
"The citizen was left shocked by the call," the statement of claim by attorney Menashe Yado reads. " He felt threatened and his civil security was disturbed by the fear that the police were pursuing him. He felt injured by the very fact that he had been tagged as a possible lawbreaker. He felt that the police officer was attempting to intimidate him."
The statement of claim also alleges that the call was made against guidelines and out of negligence.
Over the course of the litigation, the sides agreed on a settlement. It was agreed that the citizen would receive not less than 250 shekels and not more than 7,500.
In the verdict, the judge wrote that he had listened to a recording of the conversation and had considered all the claims of both sides, and decided to award a partial victory to the claimant. Reparations were set at 1500 shekels to the citizen, along with costs, bringing the total to approximately 3,000 shekels.