Israeli Military Court: Army Still Using Banned Weapon against Protestors

Al-Manar

19/09/2010 The Israeli occupation army continues using the Ruger 10/22 rifle to disperse protests even though it has been prohibited by the military advocate general, a hearing at an Israeli military court revealed last week.

Last Wednesday, the Judea Military Court convened for the sentencing hearing of protest organizer Abdullah Abu-Rahma from Bil'in, convicted last month of incitement and organizing illegal demonstrations. The state submitted an expert opinion by Maj. Igor Moiseev, who served as the Binyamin Brigade's operations officer for two years.

The opinion details the cost of ammunition fired in Bil'in and Nial'in from August 2008 to December 2009; it notes that the Israeli army used Ruger bullets that cost a total of NIS 1.3 million. Moiseev described the Ruger as a nonlethal weapon.

When Abu-Rahma's attorney Gabi Laski inquired if Moiseev knew that the military advocate general had ruled that Ruger rifles are not to be used to disperse protests because they are potentially lethal, Moiseev said he was not aware of such an instruction.

In 2001, the Israeli military advocate general at the time prohibited the use of Ruger bullets as nonlethal ammunition.

Nevertheless, the Israeli occupation reverted to using the Ruger against protesters in 2009, killing a teenager in occupied Al-Khalil in February and a protester in Nial'in in June. Human rights group B'Tselem asked the military advocate general to make clear that the weapon was not meant for crowd control.

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