(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Israeli prosecutors charged a policeman yesterday in the fatal shooting of a teenage Palestinian protester, accusing him of deliberately switching his rubber bullets with the live round that killed the youth. The prosecutors' decision to level a charge of manslaughter rather than murder drew criticism from the boy's father, who said the evidence showed the killing was pre-meditated.
Nadim Nuwara, 17, was shot during a demonstration in May at which Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. A second teenage protester was killed there but Israel has made no arrest in that case, citing lack of evidence as an autopsy was not carried out.
CCTV footage suggested neither youth posed any immediate threat to the troops stationed some 70 yards away. Their deaths stoked Palestinian fury at Israel that has simmered since US-sponsored peace negotiations collapsed in April.
The accused, a member of the paramilitary border police, was arrested on November 12. His name has not been released.
An indictment filed at Jerusalem District Court said the policeman had slipped a live bullet into his ammunition clip, which was meant to hold only non-lethal blank rounds with which to propel rubber bullets mounted separately on the rifle muzzle.
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