'Modesty patrol' mercenary gets 4 years for Jerusalem attack

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
A 29-year-old Israeli man connected with Jerusalem's haredi "modesty squad" has been sentenced to four years in prison for the brutal gang assault of a woman in her city apartment last year, but the group's ringleader and other alleged cell members were never charged in the case due to lack of evidence, the Justice Ministry said Monday. The modesty patrol, an all-male vigilante group, which has been active in the city's Mea Shearim and Geula neighborhoods, has been linked to numerous acts of violence over the years to ensure that the city's haredi residents conduct themselves in accordance with the conventions of their ultra-observant lifestyle. Elhanan Buzaglo was the only suspect to be indicted in the violent June 2008 city attack on the divorced woman who had previously led a haredi lifestyle. The woman's name has not been made public due to concern over her safety. The woman was brazenly assaulted in her home in the city's Ma'alot Dafna neighborhood by a group of five men armed with a bat and tear gas.