Tal Yinon Dardik released from detention
"A victory, he was released without any conditions," declared the Honenu organization, which represents Dardik - despite the fact that he was barred from Judea and Samaria and will have to report to the police station twice a day. The judge criticized: "They are seeking to intertwine the criminal procedure with the administrative one."
Tal Yinon Dardik, suspected of involvement in nationalist crime, who stood at the center of the publicized confrontation between Defense Minister Israel Katz and Central Command Chief Avi Bluth, was released today, Tuesday, from detention. This follows yesterday's decision by Bluth to change the order he issued against Dardik: instead of house arrest, he was barred from Judea and Samaria. Alongside this, he must report twice a day to the police station in Modi'in Illit. He was documented leaving the Russian Compound detention center with his wife and children, and moved to Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital.
The Honenu organization, which represents Dardik, defined this as a "victory" and stated: "After 38 days of a hunger strike, the court accepts the organization's request and orders the release of Tal Yinon Dardik without any conditions." The organization added: "Administrative orders for settlers are a black flag over the Command Chief and his superiors. The Command Chief and the Ministry of Defense must put an end to the use of administrative orders that are used only against settlers. Not against crime bosses and not against any other citizen in the State of Israel. The only public in Israel that is persecuted by administrative orders are the settlers in Judea and Samaria."
The judge in Dardik's hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, Amir Shaked, criticized the conduct in the case. "It is impossible to accept such conduct, in which the petitioner chose to intertwine the criminal and administrative proceedings as one," he wrote. "It is impossible to order that the respondent's release is contingent upon meeting release conditions, the entire purpose of which is to prevent a violation that has not yet come into the world. All this, while the respondent is behind bars, and this should not be done." Shaked added that it was clarified to Dardik that a Command Chief order from yesterday is pending against him.
Attorney Nati Rom from Honenu stated: "We have now received the decision of the Honorable Judge Amir Shaked to release Tal Yinon Dardik immediately and without any conditions. We are happy that the defense's arguments were accepted. This order is not applicable, the Command Chief issued the order without authority. This order is essentially canceled and therefore there was no violation and no justification for his arrest. We hope that this time the judicial decisions will be respected." Attorney Moshe Polsky added: "It was expected. The state dragged Tal Yinon into unnecessary legal proceedings, including huge expenses at the taxpayer's expense; it was clear to everyone that this would be the result, as it is impossible to attribute any offense to him."
Dardik sparked the publicized confrontation between the minister and the Command Chief, which reached its peak with Katz's announcement in a live broadcast about his replacement. Katz was among the supporters of canceling the restriction order on Dardik, while Bluth supported keeping the restriction order at his mother-in-law's house. The judge determined the day before yesterday that Dardik poses a significant danger and that the restriction order against him was justified. Dardik is suspected of involvement in attacking Palestinians in March of this year. Since sufficient criminal evidence was not gathered against him for prosecution, Command Chief Bluth issued an administrative supervision and restriction order against him on the recommendation of the Shin Bet. The order determined that Dardik must stay under full house arrest for six months at his mother-in-law's house, but she refused. Since Dardik did not report to the place determined for him, the security establishment saw this as a violation. He was imprisoned in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem, and an indictment was filed against him for his refusal to obey the administrative order. He became a symbol of the struggle against administrative house arrest orders — the only tool left after Katz canceled the administrative arrest orders for Jews.
