The Israeli District Court in Be’er Shiva, acquitted on Monday Avri Ran, an extremist settler, and the leader of the Hilltop Youth settler group, of charges which included attacking and seriously injuring two Palestinians from a West Bank village.
The two settlers where acquitted in spite that they confessed to the attack, the Arabs48 news website reported.
The court also acquitted two other settlers identified as Yiskhar Mendel, and El’ad Zev, and struck a deal with a fifth assailant who admitted to charges in a plea-bargain with the prosecution.
Avri was settled in an illegal settlement outpost known as Givat Olam, close to Itamar settlement, near Nablus.
The case filed against Avri, and the two other settlers, states that they were driving on March 20, 2005, from Itamar settlement towards Yanoun village and attacked, two Palestinians residents; the two were identified as Amer Abu Shihada, who was herding his sheep, and Khader Abu Haniyya, who was in his orchard.
The settlers chased and kicked the two residents to several pars of their bodies; the two residents were hit with the back of the rifles, and suffered sever injuries in the face, head, and several parts of their bodies.
The Judge of the High Court said that one of the defendants "exaggerated" in his statements, including the description of the injuries he suffered, the pain and bleeding.
The judge claimed that there is a dispute between Avri and the residents over a land, he and other extremist settlers, installed an outpost over it, after grabbing the land.
