Tel Aviv // An Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a soldier to 18 months in prison for executing a wounded Palestinian man who lay on the ground, sparking criticism from rights groups.
The Palestinian government and the victim’s family condemned the sentence as too lenient, while the soldier’s defence lawyers said they would appeal and right-wing Israeli ministers immediately called for a pardon.
Judge Maya Heller handed down the sentence a month after Elor Azaria, 21, was found guilty of manslaughter for killing Abdul Fatah Al Sharif in the southern occupied West Bank in March last year.
He also received 18 months in suspended sentences and was demoted from sergeant to private.
Judge Heller said the panel of three judges had taken into account mitigating factors including the “harm suffered by his family” and the fact Azaria was in “hostile territory” when the shooting occurred.
She added, however, that he had not expressed remorse for his actions.
Azaria will begin his sentence on March 5, the court announced.
He has already spent 10 months in detention at an Israeli military base and it was not immediately clear if Tuesday’s sentence includes time served.
The March 2016 shooting in Hebron was caught on video by a rights group and spread widely online, sparking outrage.
It showed Sharif, 21, lying wounded on the ground, shot along with another Palestinian after allegedly stabbing and wounding a soldier, according to the army.
Azaria then shoots him in the head without any apparent provocation.
Azaria says he feared Sharif was wearing an explosive belt and could blow himself up, taking nearby soldiers and onlookers with him, a claim judges rejected.
The case came against the backdrop of a wave of shootings of Palestinians by Israeli security forces that erupted in October 2015. The Palestinians were usually targeted after they allegedly attempted or plotted to stab soldiers.
Palestinians and rights groups reacted to the sentence was anger and disappointment.
A spokesman for the Palestinian government said the sentence was a “green light to the occupation army to continue its crimes”.
Sharif’s father Yusri said the sentence was a “farce”.
“What does a year and a half mean? Was he an animal to be killed like this, in this barbaric way?”
Magdalena Mughrabi from Amnesty International said Azaria’s initial conviction had “offered a glimmer of hope for accountability for unlawful killings by Israeli forces”.
“(But) the 18-month sentence for Elor Azaria does not reflect the gravity of the offence.”
Some on the right of Israel’s increasingly hard line political spectrum have defended the soldier, but military officials said the trial was important to maintain the institution’s reputation.
Azaria entered the packed courtroom to applause from friends.
Dressed in military uniform and smiling broadly, he hugged family members and his girlfriend.
Outside the court, around 100 right-wing demonstrators protested against the trial.
As the verdict was read out the family sat still but afterwards they sang the Israeli national anthem together.
Right-wing education minister Naftali Bennett and culture minister Miri Regev led calls for a pardon.
“Israel’s security demands he be pardoned,” Mr Bennett wrote on Twitter.
*Agence France-Presse
