The Supreme Court will hear today the appeal of Amiram Ben-Oliel, who was convicted of murdering three members of the Dwabsha family in the village of Duma on July 31, 2015. Last month, the Central District Court in Lod sentenced Ben-Oliel to three life sentences and another 17 years in prison. Ben-Oliel is represented by attorneys Avigdor Feldman and Yehoshua Reznik, who previously served as deputy state’s attorney. According to Feldman, who is mostly associated with the legal representation of Palestinians and leftists, he decided to take on the handling of the case after studying it.
“I changed my mind because I read the case and it turned out that Ben Oliel’s entire conviction was based on a confession issued by him under torture.” He said the appeal would revolve around the question “Are confessions made in torture valid?”. Last night, a demonstration took place in front of the Supreme Court in protest of the alleged torture of Ben-Oliel and in his call for his release. The demonstration was attended by MKs, rabbis and public figures.
The announcement ahead of the demonstration states that “after six years of struggle, the moment of truth has arrived. Just before the appeal of Amiram Ben-Oliel, we will all arrive and cry out loud – stop the torture, release Amiram.” The district court ruled that Ben-Oliel answered in his investigations at the GSS and disqualified most of his confessions, but nevertheless, qualified some of the investigations despite the torture – and convicted Ben-Oliel on the basis of them.