IDF soldier who killed comrade gets early release

A soldier from the IDF’s elite Duvdevan counter-terrorism unit who killed a fellow soldier in a game of “draw” will be released before serving his full sentence, the military said Monday.

The soldier, who can only be identified as Sergeant N., was sentenced last July to 18 months in prison for accidentally killing Staff Sgt. Shahar Strug. A military court accepted the request for early release, and N. will be freed just before the Passover holiday — five months ahead of time.

The military court’s committee for reviewing sentences noted the case involved the “chance of significant rehabilitation.”

The relatively light sentence was part of a plea bargain that took into account “the tragic result and the severity of the infraction, alongside the circumstances of the incident and N.’s personal circumstances,” the army said at the time.

“The committee gave special weight to the soldier’s desire to complete his compulsory military service in a position where he could tell his personal story to the fighters at the counter-terrorism school and try to prevent the next disaster,” said Maj. Merav Hershkowitz-Yitzhaki, N.’s defense attorney.

The tribunal noted that Strug’s family had opposed the early release, but ruled that shortening the sentence would not threaten public safety and serving the entire sentence would “not be able to heal the tremendous pain of the family of the deceased.”

Before the sentencing, the family had supported the shooter, saying he “wasn’t a murderer” and deserved a lighter sentence.

In a violation of army protocol, the two had been playing with their army-issued Glock-19 pistols in their barracks, drawing their weapons from their holsters as they stood across from one another. N.’s weapon was loaded and he fatally shot Strug.

Under the plea deal, the charges against N. were downgraded from murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, to causing death by negligence, which carries a maximum sentence of three years.

In its 2018 decision, the military court found that the type of gun play that led to the death was very common in Duvdevan, and the military launched several investigations into the matter.

Following the incident, the army announced it would hold several officers accountable for regularly failing to uphold gun safety protocols. An inquiry found commanders did not do enough to prevent the accident in which Strug was killed and the Central Command’s internal investigative commission found that the unit had a history of gun safety violations.

“The commission determined that there was insufficient oversight by commanders to prevent this use of weapons in violation of orders and protocols, despite the awareness of this possibility, in light of three previous instances of bullets accidentally being fired in the unit,” the army said.

Several officers from the rank of lieutenant up to a lieutenant colonel were disciplined as a result.