2 June '09: Following B'Tselem’s complaint, Givati soldier charged with theft

On Tuesday, 2.6.09, The Judge Advocate General’s Office filed an indictment against a Givati Brigade soldier for theft of money from Palestinians. The indictment was filed following a complaint made by B'Tselem regarding thefts that took place during a search soldiers conducted in Beit Furik, a village east of Nablus, in November 2008.

According to testimonies of local residents, in the early morning hours of 18 November, soldiers searched a number of houses in the village. In two instances, Palestinians told B'Tselem that cash and valuables disappeared during the search.

Khaled Malitat related to B'Tselem that 500 shekels and rings worth about 300 Jordanian dinars disappeared from a drawer. Following B'Tselem’s complaint, a Military Police investigation was opened, leading to filing of the indictment.

Another resident, Mahmud Nesasreh, told B'Tselem that soldiers entered his family’s house and neighbors’ houses by smashing the doors of the houses. In one of the cabinets in the house, a wallet with shekels and dinars was hidden. When the search ended, Nesasreh found the wallet outside the closet, and some of the money, about 540 dinars, was missing. He went over to one of the soldiers and told him of the theft. The soldier briefly investigated and then rejected the claim.

Following B'Tselem’s complaint, the Judge Advocate General’s Office informed the organization that it had ordered a Military Police investigation into the case. B'Tselem does not know of developments in the matter.