Four residents of Yitzhar accused of robbery - but who themselves accuse the police of engineering the robbery - were released to house arrest this morning, after the police were not able to produce witnesses regarding the charges.
The incident in question occurred nine days ago. An Arab was brought to Yitzhar, pointed to several sheep belonging to one of the Jewish residents, said they were stolen from him, and was encouraged by the police to walk off with them. The residents chased after him, recovered the sheep - and were promptly arrested. After three court hearings in which the police requested and received extensions of the Yitzhar men's remand, the Kfar Saba District Court judge finally told the police yesterday that if the Arab witness in question does not show up by 9 AM this morning, the "suspects" would be released to house arrest. To no one's surprise, the witness did not show up, and at 9 AM, they were in fact released - but not to their own homes. The judge instructed that they not return to Yitzhar for the next five days.
Ariel Groner of Yitzhar, who has been closely following the case, told Arutz-7 today that though the charges are serious - "armed robbery" and the like - the police case appears to be falling apart. "We don't mind if they bring it to trial, however," said Groner, who himself was briefly detained by the police last week. "In fact, if they drop the charges, we ourselves will sue. They totally engineered this theft of our sheep!"
The incident in question occurred nine days ago. An Arab was brought to Yitzhar, pointed to several sheep belonging to one of the Jewish residents, said they were stolen from him, and was encouraged by the police to walk off with them. The residents chased after him, recovered the sheep - and were promptly arrested. After three court hearings in which the police requested and received extensions of the Yitzhar men's remand, the Kfar Saba District Court judge finally told the police yesterday that if the Arab witness in question does not show up by 9 AM this morning, the "suspects" would be released to house arrest. To no one's surprise, the witness did not show up, and at 9 AM, they were in fact released - but not to their own homes. The judge instructed that they not return to Yitzhar for the next five days.
Ariel Groner of Yitzhar, who has been closely following the case, told Arutz-7 today that though the charges are serious - "armed robbery" and the like - the police case appears to be falling apart. "We don't mind if they bring it to trial, however," said Groner, who himself was briefly detained by the police last week. "In fact, if they drop the charges, we ourselves will sue. They totally engineered this theft of our sheep!"