(JEWISH GROUP) Man indicted on 12 hate crime charges in attack on Boulder demonstration for Israeli hostages
A man accused of hurling Molotov cocktails at a group of people demonstrating in Boulder, Colorado, in support of Israeli hostages has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 hate crime counts.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman was initially charged with only one hate crime count in federal court in the June 1 attack on demonstrators. The federal grand jury indictment, which was filed in court Tuesday, had been expected for weeks as a formality in advancing the felony criminal case toward trial. It is routine for prosecutors to add charges beyond the crimes alleged in an initial criminal complaint.
The indictment accuses Soliman of trying to kill eight people who were hurt by the Molotov cocktails and targeting them because of their perceived or actual national origin, which prosecutors say was their perceived or actual connection to and support for Israel. He was also indicted for another hate crime for trying to kill others at the event or nearby who were not injured.
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At a hearing last week, Soliman’s defense attorney, David Kraut, urged Magistrate Judge Kathryn Starnella not to allow the case to move forward because he said the alleged attack was not a hate crime. Instead, he said it was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel. An attack motivated by someone’s political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law.
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