The Beer Sheva District Court announced this evening (Wednesday) that Assaf Shmuelevich, the defendant in the 'impersonating officer' case in the south, is acquitted by reason of insanity.
The panel of judges, headed by Judge Gilat Shalev, ruled that although Shmuelevich committed the serious acts, he was not responsible for them due to insanity and therefore is not punishable.
The panel of judges ruled: "He was in a complex mental state at the time of the acts, in a way that deprived him of the ability to understand what he was doing or the wrongness of his actions, and therefore he is not punishable due to the qualification to criminal responsibility of insanity.".
According to the verdict, Shmuelevich, a former reserve officer with the rank of lieutenant, showed up on October 7 without a reserve order and took advantage of the chaos to gain access to highly classified information. He documented secret information and shared it with unauthorized parties, but the court emphasized that he had no intention of harming state security and did not pass information on to hostile elements.
A panel of psychiatric experts determined that at the time of the acts, Shmuelevich was in a psychotic state with "delusions of grandeur.".
Shmuelevich's family: "Today, the story of the spy conspiracy in the Southern Command has finally come to a close. We expect that public figures, media people, and citizens who spread them will do a thorough soul-searching with themselves.".
The prosecutor's office stated: ""In response to reporters' inquiries, we would like to clarify that at the end of hearing the prosecution's evidence, the defendant Assaf Shmuelvitz confessed to all the acts attributed to him in the indictment, and the court accepted his confession. However, in light of several psychiatric opinions in his case, the court ruled that Shmuelvitz was not responsible for his actions at the time they were committed due to his being mentally ill and in a psychotic state.
""The court determined that his mental condition deprived him of the ability to understand the wrongness of his actions and therefore he is not punishable, and in accordance with the law, it exempted him from criminal responsibility for his actions and acquitted him on grounds of insanity. According to the law, when it is determined that the defendant was not responsible for his actions at the time of committing the offenses, the court will issue an order for psychiatric hospitalization. The prosecution asked the court to determine the maximum possible period of hospitalization for these offenses - 15 years.".
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