Court: spraying nationalist graffiti is not 'price tag'

Unusual decision, a judge ruled today at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, Chagit Mack - Kalmanovich that spraying graffiti is not defined as an act of 'price tag'.

Precedential decision today ruled by Judge Chagit Mack - Kalmanovich that spraying graffiti is not defined as an act of 'price tag' and is a cause of holding detention.

The judge ordered the release of 18-year-old resident of Maale Levona settlement, after he was arrested this morning and police demanded to extend the detention in 5 days. In VeChoneinu welcome the important decision and hope it's a sign of disillusionment in the system.

This morning 18-year-old resident of Maale Levona in northern Benjamin was arrested. The boy was arrested at his home and taken to the police station central unit SJ Ma'aleh Adumim. During interrogation he was told that he is suspected of spraying graffiti on the structure of the Arabs in the area where he lives. In addition, in the boy's room bullets were found on the wall which he states were for decorative purposes. Consequently, the boy also was charged possession of ammunition. The boy cooperated fully with the interrogation and denied the allegations.

Later that day, the boy was brought to Jerusalem Magistrates Court, where the police demanded to extend the detention in five days to carry out investigations. During investigation the police representative admitted to attorney David Halevy, who represented the boy by the Association VeChoneinu, that the act in question took place a few months ago and that possession of ammunition were not grounds for search or arrest. Despite the refusal of the police representative to elaborate on what the private suspicion was against the boy, Judge Mack - Kalmanovich noted that in her decision. According to her it is a spraying graffiti of 'death to the Arabs' plus words that can be interpreted as a threat. For ammunition, the judge wrote that even if the act is wrong, it does not constitute a crime.

On suspicion of price tag graffiti the judge wrote: "I believe that even though this is an offense that has an ugly immoral side, yet there is a distance between these acts, worthy of every condemnation, and grounds for arrest. Request for arrest stated that the respondent is suspected of Tag Actions Price. In the material presented I did not find anything relating to operations other than price tag and spray graffiti. These circumstances when it is not even at the end of the intervention that are violent or dangerous crossing spray, I think there is no reason to arrest the respondent." Later the judge rejected the police request to delay the implementation of the decision to submit an appeal. According to her, despite demand for stay of execution is usually accepted in court, this story is unusual.

Association, VeChoneinu, welcomed the decision and hope that this is the first sign that would announce the return of sanity in enforcement.

Attorney David HaLevi who represented the boy on behalf of the Association says that, "For a long time Israeli police practice and the public have gotten used to the fact that any graffiti immediately becomes an event called 'price tag' justifying an arrest, the court decision today put it, and rightly so, in appropriate proportions determining that not all graffiti is a price tag and that there is a distance between such action and the grounds for detention. My client's release speaks for itself."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!