IDF officer receives 11-year prison term for series of offenses

Soldier was convicted of bribe-taking and sexual harassment, over actions whose nature has not been revealed to the public

By ToI Staff 22 March 2017, 9:43 pm

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Illustrative: An IDF soldier sits in a military court. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

An IDF officer in the Civil Administration was sentenced by a military court to 11 years in prison on Wednesday in a secretive case after earlier being convicted of a number of serious charges, including sexual assault and endangering national security.

The Civil Administration, part of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit, is under the auspices of the Defense Ministry. It manages civilian affairs in Palestinian areas, acting as a liaison between the government, the IDF and the Palestinian Authority.

The officer, who was convicted in December, has been held in detention since he was indicted last February.

The soldier was convicted on most of the charges against him, the IDF said in December, including sexual offenses, sexual harassment, bribe-taking, fraud, breach of trust and exceeding his authority to the extent of posing a national security risk.

Since the start of the legal proceedings against him, the name of the officer and his rank have been held under gag order due to the sensitivity of the case, most details of which the IDF has kept under wraps.