Serious Crimes Case (Beer Sheva) 63357-03-18 State of Israel – F.M.D. V. Assaf Masoud Suissa - part 179

Like Defendant 1, Defendant 2 also failed to explain in his testimony why he got himself into trouble and said that he punched and kicked the deceased, if he claimed that the interrogators told him to incriminate Defendant 1, and he repeated the same mantra: "I made up all these things because I was under pressure and the interrogators threatened me and deprived me of my rights.  They told me to drop everything on him.  They were the voice and I was the mouth from which the voice came out," without addressing the difficulty of the words.  After a number of similar questions, he finally replied that the commander  "told me to shoot down [Defendant 1] but to say that I had partial involvement in the incident.  And then he will release me home," but clarified that the commander of the Central Intelligence Unit did not tell him to say that he had given him kicks and did not give him details, but rather added details of his own so that the story would appear credible (pp. 471-472).  In his cross-examination, when he was referred to the fact that during the interrogation he told the interrogator that his leg had swelled and to the question of why his leg had swelled, he first replied, "Yes.  Because as I said, at first I said in my first testimonies that [Defendant 1] said to kick the deceased, so I kicked him." When asked if he had kicked him, he replied, "I made up a story,  I made up that I had some kind of involvement in the incident, and that's what I told during my first testimony.  Now I say that due to the dragging of that deceased I twisted my leg.  It swelled a little.  There were stones all the way.  I must have stepped on a stone and my leg twisted.  That's why the leg swelled."  When asked why he said in all his statements that the swelling in his leg was caused by the kicks, he replied that his lawyer had instructed him to stick to the version he had given (p. 481).  Similarly, defendant 2 had difficulty explaining why he said in his statements that he held the deceased's hands while defendant 1 hit him.  And to the question of why he continued to give the incriminating version even after he realized that he was not being released, despite the alleged promises of the commander of the Central Intelligence Unit, he replied, "Because once again, I didn't know how this system worked.  And I listened to the advice of my lawyer who told me to continue.  I said, maybe in a moment I'll be released...  He didn't tell me they would let me go.  But I listened to the commander of the Central Intelligence Unit" (pp. 485-486).