2 get jail terms for fatal 2012 accident at Mount Herzl

Deputy CEO and operations manager of stage design company convicted over lighting rig collapse that killed IDF officer

Two men who worked for a company deemed responsible for a fatal collapse of a lighting rig at Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl on April 18, 2012, were sent to prison on Wednesday, while the company’s CEO was acquitted.

Lieutenant Hila Betzaleli, a 20-year-old IDF officer from Mevasseret Zion, was crushed to death when the lighting rig crashed down on her and other soldiers as they rehearsed for the official state Independence Day ceremony in the central parade ground. Seven other soldiers were injured in the incident.

Elad Levi, the deputy CEO of Itzuv Bima stage design company, will serve a six-month sentence, while the company’s operations manager, Tomer Leonidze, will serve a seven-month sentence.

The sentencing of the two men came after a plea deal was reached on Tuesday. They, along with three others, were indicted in 2014 on charges of negligent manslaughter and negligent causing of injury.

Doron Levi, the CEO of the company, was acquitted on all charges.

Hila Betzaleli poses at the Mount Herzl parade grounds, two hours before the tragedy in which she lost her life. (photo credit: Channel 2 News)

Oren Varshebski, an engineer for the company, and Itzik Tzuker, a safety adviser, were not included as part of the plea deal, following pressure by the Betzaleli family, according to Channel 2.

A year after Betzaleli’s death, her grandfather committed suicide by jumping from the window of his four-story apartment in Ashkelon. According to his neighbors, he had been fighting depression in the year since his granddaughter’s death.