After one year of court hearings and deliberations an Israeli military court sentenced Elor Azaria a soldier who murdered in cold blood a Palestinian wounded young man to only 18 months in jail although he had already been convicted of intentional killing.
The Israeli prosecutor had demanded a light sentence of three to five years but the judge decided to give Azaria far less than that in prison after Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu intervened personally.
The soldier also received one-year probation and a demotion in rank. His defense vowed to appeal and politicians from the right called for him to be pardoned.
A military court last month found Azaria guilty of manslaughter a crime that carries a top punishment of 20 years in jail.
Last March 2016 Azaria was serving in the city of al-Khalil (Hebron) when two Palestinian young men allegedly carried out a stabbing attack.
One of the two Palestinians was shot dead by Israeli soldiers. The other Abdul-Latif Ashareef was shot and wounded. Eleven minutes later as the wounded man 21 was lying on the ground immobile and incapacitated Azaria showed up and shot him cold-bloodedly in the head with an assault rifle.
