The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court has ordered the release from custody of 28-year-old Yechiel Indore, a Jewish man who was seriously injured during an attempted lynch near the Palestinian Authority village of Burqa, in the Binyamin region.
Indore was released to house arrest. He was represented by Honenu organization attorneys Avichai Hajabi and Nati Rom, and arrived Tuesday morning at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court for a hearing on the extension of his detention.
Having spent more than a week in the intensive care unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem following emergency brain surgery for a fractured skull and cerebral hemorrhage, Indore was transferred Sunday from the hospital to the custody of the Shin Bet.
An appeal of his five-day remand, which began Friday, was rejected by the Jerusalem District Court on Monday; that remand expired Tuesday. During that hearing, police removed the charges of suspicion of arson and nationalist motive.
Indore is currently charged with four offenses: causing death by negligence or intent (equivalent to Murder One in the US), conspiracy, disruption of social order and rioting.
At the beginning of Tuesday’s hearing, the police representative said Indore is suspected of murder — but as the discussion progressed, it turned out the pathology report on the Palestinian Authority Arab who was killed in the clash did not include an autopsy.
During questioning, Hajabi asked the police investigation unit, “Did the deceased get into the Palestinian car alive or dead?” The police representative replied, “I have no indication about that. A doctor did not examine him in the field.”
On Monday night, Israeli authorities arrested two Arabs – one adult and one minor – in connection with the attack, TPS reported.
He was seriously wounded in an attempted lynch by hundreds of Arabs from the village in an incident that began with the Arabs harassing a Jewish shepherd grazing his flock.
The shepherd called other local Jews to help and when they arrived, they were attacked by the mob.
During the August 4 attack, Indore fired a warning shot with his licensed personal weapon, but the attackers disregarded the warning and surged towards him.
One hurled a boulder at him, splitting open Indore’s skull. Seriously injured with his life threatened, he opened fire directly to stop the mob.
One of the attackers, a 19-year-old Arab, was killed in the clash.
