'Jewish engineer' sentenced to 7 years


Jerusalem Post
 Date: Dec. 1, 2004

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS

The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday sentenced a 29-year-old Jerusalem man to seven years in prison for selling a home-made bomb to an undercover police officer, in a bizarre case which still puzzles investigators.

Hanan Yadgarov, whose alleged bomb-making exploits have earned him the nickname "the Jewish engineer," was arrested in October 2003 for selling a three-kilogram bomb to an undercover Jerusalem Arab police officer for NIS 25,000.

During the 'deal,' Yadgarov told the undercover policeman that the bomb could be used on buses.

During a subsequent raid on his home, police found an explosives lab, including ready-to-use bombs, IDF and Russian army uniforms.

Yadgarov, who immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union 14 years ago, is divorced and the father of three.

He had no past criminal record before his conviction in the same court earlier this year for illegally manufacturing, trading, and carrying weapons and arms.

He had been acquitted on a more serious charge of trying to assist the enemy during wartime due to insufficient evidence.

Yadgarov, who failed to find any full-time job in Israel, had told the court that his difficult economic situation led him to carry out his action.

Still, the court noted that the motive for his crime remained a puzzle both to the suspect, his family, and the security services.

"It appears that the accused acted out of basic survival instincts without realizing the severity of his crimes and their ramifications, in order to get out of economic duress," the court said.

In handing down the seven-year sentence instead of the ten years plus that the prosecution had asked for, the three-judge panel led by Deputy Court President Tzvi Segal, said that they took account of Yadgarov's personal and familial problems, as well as his economic difficulties, and the fact that he had expressed remorse for his actions.

"We did not ignore the circumstances for leniency... and so did not see fit in handing down the maximum sentence. At the same time, the severity of the crimes and the need to deter others... push aside the personal considerations," the judges wrote in their sentencing.

Yadgarov's lawyer, Ariel Herman, said after the ruling that he would consider appealing the "harsh sentence" to the Supreme Court.

Source

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