11 Feb. 2010: Following request of B'Tselem and Yesh Din, Palestinian witnesses will no longer be brought to military courts in a detainee-transport vehicle
Brig. Gen. Meir Ohana, Chief Military Police Officer (CMPO), recently informed the Yesh Din and B'Tselem human rights organizations that the Military Police will improve the treatment of Palestinians brought to military courts in Israel to testify in the trials of members of the security forces charged with committing offenses.
Last month, the organizations sent the CMPO a list of instances in which Palestinians brought from the West Bank to testify in military courts in Israel were transported in the closed rear part of a detainee-transport vehicle, whose windows are sealed. The witnesses were not cuffed, but they said they felt great humiliation, and some of them said that, under those conditions, they were not willing to testify.
In their letter, the organizations claimed that transporting the witnesses in this fashion conflicted with the statements of military law-enforcement authorities regarding their commitment to enforcing the law on security forces accused of harming Palestinians. Palestinian witnesses make a difficult decision in coming to testify in military courts, since most of them do not trust the system, for understandable reasons. Transporting these witnesses as if they were dangerous prisoners does not increase their trust in the system, and certainly does not encourage them to assist in advancing accountability of human-rights violators.
Following the request, Brig. Gen. Ohana appointed a senior officer to investigate the matter. In his reply to the organizations, which was received on 7 February, the CMPO stated that the investigation revealed that there was, indeed, “a defect in the manner in which the witnesses were accompanied by the Military Police.”
He wrote further that,
In exceptional cases, and due to the shortage of space in the vehicle… the witnesses were seated in the rear of the vehicle intended for detainees, [not in the] the transport cell. I would like to emphasize that I found this Border Police procedure to be faulty, and therefore have directed all Military Police forces that the task of accompanying witnesses will no longer be carried out by means of vehicles intended for transporting detainees. This assignment will be carried out, from here on, in appropriate vehicles, which are not used for transporting detainees.
The CMPO further stated that he had ordered commanders that they should re-emphasize to Military Police forces their obligation to protect the rights and dignity of the witnesses, who are performing an important task.
B'Tselem and Yesh Din welcome the Military Police’s substantive and rapid handling of the matter. The organizations will monitor implementation of the decision.
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