Turkey resumes Gaza flotilla trial for former IDF chiefs
By YONAH JEREMY BOB02/21/2013 10:48
Trial in absentia against Ashkenazi, other retired senior IDF commanders was dismissed by Israel as politically motivated "show trial"; witness claims force used by soldiers "could only have been meant to attack."
Marmara Photo: REUTERS/Osman Orsa
The trial in absentia of a group of former Israeli military commanders, including former chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi, restarted on Thursday at an Istanbul court.
The officers are being charged with the deaths of nine Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the 2010 flotilla attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Related:
'Families of Marmara flotilla victims sue Israel'
'Turkey Marmara trial a cynical political process'
The trial of four of the most senior retired commanders, started with three consecutive days of hearings in November, but then recessed until Thursday.
It has been dismissed by Israel as a politically motivated “show trial” and threatens to further strain already fraught relations.
Ties between Jerusalem and what was once its only Muslim ally crumbled after the incident, in which some of the soldiers who tried to forcibly commandeer the ship were injured in clashes with those on board that left nine of the passengers dead.
According to Twitter accounts of the case, the first witness on Thursday was crew member of the Mavi Marmara vessel who testified that the IDF perpetrated an inhumane attack which caused him permanent health problems.
The crew member testified that he was forced to enter Israel under gun point, was interrogated for hours and was treated as a terrorist.
In November, reports indicated that the witnesses included statements from the families of the nine dead passengers and people from other ships in the flotilla as well as surviving activists from the Mavi Marmara.
Ahmed Dogan – the father of 19-year-old Furkan Dogan, the youngest of the dead passengers – said he saw evidence showing that his son had been “shot in the face,” according to the reports.
Mary Ann Wright, a 65-year-old former US Army colonel who was aboard the nearby Challenger 1 ship, testified about the scale of the military force involved in stopping the flotilla as well as the soldiers’ conduct vis-a-vis the firing of paint balls and tossing of stun grenades. According to the reports, Wright said she believed that such a force could only have been meant to attack.
The reports could not be confirmed and no Israeli officials are present at the trial to make objections or cross-examine the witnesses.
It was also difficult to decipher what aspects of the testimony were part of the overall narratives of alleged mistreatment and what were actual allegations of crimes, as claims of “torture” were combined with passengers’ complaints of having their hands tied behind their back or being otherwise physically restrained in what they say was a rough manner.
The 144-page indictment is seeking multiple life sentences totaling over 18,000 years for each of the defendants – Ashkenazi, former navy head Adm. (res.) Eliezer Marom, former Military Intelligence head Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin and former head of air force intelligence, Avishay Levi. It lists “inciting murder through cruelty or torture” and “inciting injury with firearms” among the charges.
Israel has dismissed the case as “political theater,” saying the accused had not even been notified of the charges.
Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze military cooperation after the UN-sponsored Palmer Commission report into the 2010 incident released in September of last year largely exonerated Israel by calling the Gaza blockade legal under international law.
Israel imposed the blockade as part of efforts to undermine Hamas’s ability to build up its military arsenal and to isolate Hamas diplomatically.
That report also had mixed conclusions regarding the actual altercations on the Mavi Marmara, finding both that the soldiers had been attacked, but also that they had used unreasonable force in repelling the attacks.
By YONAH JEREMY BOB02/21/2013 10:48
Trial in absentia against Ashkenazi, other retired senior IDF commanders was dismissed by Israel as politically motivated "show trial"; witness claims force used by soldiers "could only have been meant to attack."
The trial in absentia of a group of former Israeli military commanders, including former chief of staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi, restarted on Thursday at an Istanbul court.
The officers are being charged with the deaths of nine Turks aboard the Mavi Marmara, one of the ships in the 2010 flotilla attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Related:
'Families of Marmara flotilla victims sue Israel'
'Turkey Marmara trial a cynical political process'
The trial of four of the most senior retired commanders, started with three consecutive days of hearings in November, but then recessed until Thursday.
It has been dismissed by Israel as a politically motivated “show trial” and threatens to further strain already fraught relations.
Ties between Jerusalem and what was once its only Muslim ally crumbled after the incident, in which some of the soldiers who tried to forcibly commandeer the ship were injured in clashes with those on board that left nine of the passengers dead.
According to Twitter accounts of the case, the first witness on Thursday was crew member of the Mavi Marmara vessel who testified that the IDF perpetrated an inhumane attack which caused him permanent health problems.
The crew member testified that he was forced to enter Israel under gun point, was interrogated for hours and was treated as a terrorist.
In November, reports indicated that the witnesses included statements from the families of the nine dead passengers and people from other ships in the flotilla as well as surviving activists from the Mavi Marmara.
Ahmed Dogan – the father of 19-year-old Furkan Dogan, the youngest of the dead passengers – said he saw evidence showing that his son had been “shot in the face,” according to the reports.
Mary Ann Wright, a 65-year-old former US Army colonel who was aboard the nearby Challenger 1 ship, testified about the scale of the military force involved in stopping the flotilla as well as the soldiers’ conduct vis-a-vis the firing of paint balls and tossing of stun grenades. According to the reports, Wright said she believed that such a force could only have been meant to attack.
The reports could not be confirmed and no Israeli officials are present at the trial to make objections or cross-examine the witnesses.
It was also difficult to decipher what aspects of the testimony were part of the overall narratives of alleged mistreatment and what were actual allegations of crimes, as claims of “torture” were combined with passengers’ complaints of having their hands tied behind their back or being otherwise physically restrained in what they say was a rough manner.
The 144-page indictment is seeking multiple life sentences totaling over 18,000 years for each of the defendants – Ashkenazi, former navy head Adm. (res.) Eliezer Marom, former Military Intelligence head Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin and former head of air force intelligence, Avishay Levi. It lists “inciting murder through cruelty or torture” and “inciting injury with firearms” among the charges.
Israel has dismissed the case as “political theater,” saying the accused had not even been notified of the charges.
Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador and froze military cooperation after the UN-sponsored Palmer Commission report into the 2010 incident released in September of last year largely exonerated Israel by calling the Gaza blockade legal under international law.
Israel imposed the blockade as part of efforts to undermine Hamas’s ability to build up its military arsenal and to isolate Hamas diplomatically.
That report also had mixed conclusions regarding the actual altercations on the Mavi Marmara, finding both that the soldiers had been attacked, but also that they had used unreasonable force in repelling the attacks.
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