IDF court sentences PA officer to just six years for killing Livnat’s nephew

Ben Yosef Livant was shot to death in 2011 near Jospeh's Tomb in Nablus.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Updated: APRIL 18, 2017 23:21
BEN YOSEPH LIVNAT (photo credit: FACEBOOK)
BEN YOSEPH LIVNAT
(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
The Samaria Military Court on Tuesday sentenced former Palestinian Authority policeman Nuaf Auda to a mere six years in prison for the 2011 shooting of Ben Yoseph Livnat, the nephew of former culture and sports minister Limor Livnat, near Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus.
Auda was represented by Merav Khoury, a top lawyer for Palestinian Authority security defendants, who convinced the court to drop the murder charges in favor of the much lesser conviction of “shooting toward a person.”
According to Khoury, and as ultimately accepted by the court, Livnat, who was 25 at the time, came to the tomb on an unscheduled visit, and he and his group ignored warning shots by Auda and other PA police to stop.
When Livnat and his group sped away from the PA police in their vehicles, Auda and other policemen opened fire, killing Livnat and injuring others.
The court found that it could not determine which policeman caused Livnat’s death.
Khoury had asked for a release based on Auda’s four years in prison since 2013, and cited the recent 18-month-sentence of soldier Elor Azaria for leniency. The IDF prosecution asked for a 10-year sentence.
Attorney Haim Bleicher, of the right-wing NGO Honenu, who represented Livnat’s family, said the acquittal for murder was “shocking and not grounded in the evidence...
The defendant confessed explicitly that he shot toward the car of the murdered person...
and that he struck him.
Likewise, a bullet matching the shooting line of the defendant was found in the car of the murdered person.
“The court on its own entertained illogical scenarios that another terrorist might have caused the harm,” Bleicher said, adding that they would appeal.
The IDF West Bank prosecutor plans to appeal the sentence.