The Nazareth District Court on Thursday sentenced Liad Edri to five and a half years in prison for the 2022 murder of yeshiva student Yoel Lhanghal. Edri was also ordered to pay Yoel's family NIS 50,000 in compensation.
He was initially accused of murdering Yoek, but during the trial a plea deal was signed with him in which the murder charge was dropped, and Edri pleaded guilty and was convicted of the offense of aggravated assault with intent to cause harm and obstruction of justice.
Attorney Racheli Zinkin, who represented the Lhanghal family responded: "We are very disappointed with the verdict. The justice system has given the next criminal approval to depose of witnesses and hide evidence, this is a weak sentence. The police also left Yoel on the floor when he was injured and walked away. This continued with the police manager who spoke with Edri and helped him to conceal evidence, followed by the investigators, who did not work hard enough and had to be pleaded with by the prosecutor's office to file 14 more indictments against attendees."
Yoel was 18-years-old when he was stabbed to death at a birthday party near the Histadrut Square in Kiryat Shmona. He was attacked by a large group of boys and during the attack he was stabbed in the stomach. The investigation of the case revealed that the fight was preceded by a violent incident that was not dealt with properly by the Kiryat Shmona police whose officers left the scene and thus did not prevent a further escalation of violence.