SA doesn't have a good track record for prosecuting citizens involved in military activity for other countries - law expert
This after 22-year-old Sandton resident, Aaron Bayhack, was identified as a member of an elite sniper unit in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
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CAPE TOWN - A military law expert says South Africa does not have a good track record for prosecuting citizens involved in military activity for other countries.
This after 22-year-old Sandton resident, Aaron Bayhack, was identified as a member of an elite sniper unit in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Bayhack has been identified as one of 21 members of a squadron within the IDF's Battalion 202, known as the Refaim, which is Hebrew for "ghost".
Members of the unit have admitted to killing unarmed civilians in Gaza.
Military law lecturer at Stellenbosch University, Professor Michelle Nel, said even though South African law prohibited citizens from fighting abroad, offenders were hardly prosecuted.
"We had all these instances in 2009. About 73 names were provided to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), of South Africans fighting for the Israeli Defense Force and the NPA declined to prosecute."