An military court docket on Sunday sentenced a soldier from an elite unit to 18 months in jail for accidentally taking pictures useless a fellow member of the elite Duvdevan unit earlier this yr.
An inner military investigation discovered that Staff Sgt. Shahar Strug was killed accidentally after the sergeant — who can solely be recognized by the primary letter of his Hebrew identify, “Nun” — discharged his weapon within the unit’s barracks forward of a coaching session, killing him.
The comparatively gentle sentence was handed down after a means of mediation. It took under consideration that it was an surprising tragedy, the truth that Strug’s household supported the shooter, and the shooter’s report serving within the elite unit. During the investigation, the court docket additionally discovered that the kind of gun play that led to the dying was quite common in Duvdevan, and the navy has launched a number of investigations into the matter.
“Nun’s” protection efficiently argued that the cost ought to be downgraded from homicide, which carries a most sentence of 20 years, to inflicting dying by negligence, which carries a most sentence of solely three years.
Last month, the military introduced it could maintain a number of officers accountable for frequently failing to uphold gun security protocols.
The navy stated the whole chain of command as much as the extent of unit commander was going through punishment or reprimand over the incident and the tradition that led to it.
An inner military investigation discovered that the commanders didn't do sufficient to forestall the accident by which Strug was killed.
“The [investigative] commission found a flawed culture of illegal use of weapons in the team of fighters that the two belonged to, and it appears this was not an isolated incident,” the military stated in a assertion.
As acknowledged by the cost sheet, “Nun” and Strug had been enjoying with their army-issued Glock-19 pistols of their barracks on the Nachshon Base, within the central West Bank, forward of an train, drawing their weapons from their holsters as they stood throughout from each other.
Strug, 20, from Givatayim, had blocked the barrel of his gun with a plastic security plug. “Nun,” nevertheless, had not, and had inserted a loaded journal into the gun, in keeping with the indictment.
“After the defendant drew his gun, he aimed the pistol at the center mass of the victim’s body, cocked his weapon and pressed the trigger. As a result of the defendant’s actions, a bullet was fired from the pistol, which struck the victim in the chest, killing him,” in keeping with the cost sheet.
The Central Command’s inner investigative commission discovered that the unit had a historical past of gun security violations.
One of the extra public incidents happened in 2015, when two troopers from the Duvdevan unit filmed themselves killing a camel in a drive-by taking pictures whereas they had been on depart.
“The commission determined that there was insufficient oversight by commanders to prevent this use of weapons in violation of orders and protocols, despite the awareness of this possibility, in light of three previous instances of bullets accidentally being fired in the unit,” the military stated.
As such, a deliberate promotion for the commander of the unit, a lieutenant colonel, was referred to as off, and he might be unable to go up in rank for a minimum of two years.
The commander of the platoon, a main, obtained a “severe reprimand,” the military stated. He too might be ineligible for promotion for a minimum of two years.
The head of Strug’s group, a lieutenant, and the group’s sergeant had been dismissed from their positions.
For safety causes, the officers and sergeant can't be recognized by identify.
The military stated the investigative commission put forth a variety of proposed modifications for the unit’s gun security insurance policies, which IDF chief Gadi Eisenkot permitted.