The decision marks a rare decision by the state, which was supported in its decision by the IDF, to indict soldiers in relation to a killing.

The B’Tselem human rights group which led the charge pressing the state to revisit the case having allowed the case to sit for a long period, announced the state’s decision on Friday, though the state formally informed the court late Wednesday.

The state made no public announcement.

In August, the state informed the High Court that in view of its leaning heavily toward an indictment, it had already held special pre-indictment hearings for the suspect-soldiers on June 21 and June 23.

It asked the court for a further delay until at least September 10, as it had recently handed the final decision to State Attorney Shai Nitzan himself to make the final decision because of the case’s “complexity and sensitivity.”

Friday’s announcement included Nitzan’s confirmation of the prosecution team’s recommendation, which, according to the state’s filing, was based on an IDF recommendation issued in March, but kept secret from the public.

Despite the decision to indict the shooter and at least one other, B’Tselem had called the charges “a new low,” upset that the expected charges did not include more serious charges like murder or manslaughter.

The state explained in its letter to the High Court that though there was a basis for manslaughter or murder charges, the chances of conviction were too low due to Awad’s family never turning over his body to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that his being shot was the cause of death.

B’Tselem has also criticized the state for not specifying how many or which soldier would be indicted, and the state’s filing to the court still did not clarify those issues.

The movement in the case comes after the state was repeatedly pounded by the High Court for its extensive delay in deciding whether to issue an indictment or close the case, including rejecting the state’s most recent request for a three month extension and being ordered to decide by mid-April. 

The state had asked for the three month extension on March 17, two weeks past the High Court ordered-deadline for making a decision following a December 1, 2014 court order giving the state what was supposed to be a final extension to March 1.

In the December hearing, the court had slammed the IDF and the state for dragging their feet on the investigation, including allowing the two soldiers involved in the shooting to be released from the IDF prior to being properly questioned.

Part of the recent delay, the state attributed to Nitzan’s directive on July 26 that the Deputy State Attorney for Special Matters to evaluate the charges recommended by the Central District Attorney, whose office has been handling the case in recent months.

Another aspect of the delay was that the claims made by the soldiers at their pre-indictment hearings raised some new issues, which the state said required collecting some additional evidence and might necessitate bringing charges against additional suspects.

It was unclear if the new potential suspects would face charges for direct involvement in the shooting, for cover-up related offenses or for command responsibility over the shooters.

The case has also been a black-eye for the state as it tries to present its investigative apparatus to the world and the International Criminal Court as objective and prompt in investigating alleged crimes by soldiers and comes at a time when the state’s leniency in dealing with violence against Palestinians is under heavy scrutiny.

Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post