Sgt. Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a wounded Palestinian knife attack suspect, was sentenced to 18 months in military prison Tuesday.
The Palestinian, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif, 21, was one of two men accused of stabbing another Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron in March.
The judge announced Azaria will demoted to the rank of private and handed him a 12-month probation on top of his prison sentence.
Charges were brought against Azaria after video footage emerged showing him shooting Sharif in the head as he lay on the ground, injured and already subdued.
The second Palestinian suspect had already been shot dead.
The case against Azaria has divided opinion among the Israeli public, politicians and members of the military, and focused attention on the military’s code of ethics.
The incident took place while Azaria was serving in Hebron, a largely Palestinian city in the West Bank with a small population of Israeli settlers. The Israeli soldier who had been attacked suffered a minor injury.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, Azaria arrived at the scene approximately 11 minutes after the attack, cocked his rifle and shot Sharif in the head, killing him.
Azaria denied the charges against him, but a three-member panel of military judges was unanimous in finding him guilty of manslaughter and improper conduct.
At the heart of the case was the motivation for Azaria’s actions. The soldier’s defense argued he felt his life was in danger, while the prosecution contended he was motivated by vengeance.
That defense was rejected by the judges.
The head judge, Col. Maya Heller, stated that Azaria was an “unreliable” witness and that his defense witnesses were also problematic. She called the shooting “needless.”