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Israeli Man Pleads Not Guilty to Firearms Offences in Malaysia

Israeli Shalom Avitan (C) is escorted by Royal Malaysia Police officers as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12 April 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Shalom Avitan (C) is escorted by Royal Malaysia Police officers as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12 April 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Man Pleads Not Guilty to Firearms Offences in Malaysia

Israeli Shalom Avitan (C) is escorted by Royal Malaysia Police officers as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12 April 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Shalom Avitan (C) is escorted by Royal Malaysia Police officers as they arrived at Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12 April 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli man, who was arrested in Malaysia last month carrying six guns and dozens of bullets, pleaded not guilty in a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday to charges of unauthorized trafficking and possession of firearms, his lawyer said.

Shalom Avitan, 38, faces two charges of illegally trafficking six guns and unauthorized possession of 158 bullets, the lawyer, Jeffrey Ooi, told Reuters.

Avitan arrived in Malaysia from the United Arab Emirates on March 12 on a French passport, police said. He was detained by police at a Kuala Lumpur hotel with a bag containing the weapons on March 27 and produced an Israeli passport upon questioning, officials have said.

Security was tight around the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex on Friday. Avitan was escorted into court by more than a dozen police officials.

Malaysia has harsh penalties for gun offences. If convicted, Avitan could face up to 40 years in prison, and no less than six strokes of the cane.

Police are investigating Avitan's motives and have not ruled out the possibility that he could be part of an Israeli crime ring, or a spy. Officials have said Avitan claimed he was in Malaysia to hunt down another Israeli citizen over a family dispute.

A married Malaysian couple was charged earlier this week with supplying the firearms to Avitan. Police have detained eight other people, including two Turkish nationals and a Georgian man, in connection with the case, state media reported.

Authorities beefed up border security following Avitan's arrest, given the country's criticism of Israel's actions in the Gaza war. Malaysia and Israel do not have diplomatic relations.

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7 Killed by Russian Attacks as Moscow Pushes Ahead in Ukraine's East

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
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7 Killed by Russian Attacks as Moscow Pushes Ahead in Ukraine's East

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a missile strike on a private building in Cherkaska Lozova, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, 31 August 2024, amid the Russian invasion. EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV

Russian shelling in the town of Chasiv Yar on Saturday killed five people, as Moscow’s troops pushed ahead in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
The attack struck a high-rise building and a private home, said regional Gov. Vadym Filaskhin, who said the victims were men aged 24 to 38. He urged the last remaining residents to leave the front-line town, which had a pre-war population of 12,000.
“Normal life has been impossible in Chasiv Yar for more than two years,” Filaskhin wrote on social media. “Do not become a Russian target — evacuate.” A further two people were killed by Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region. One victim was pulled from the rubble of a house in the village of Cherkaska Lozova, said Gov. Oleh Syniehubov, while a second woman died of her wounds while being transported to a hospital.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it captured the town of Pivnichne, also in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim.
Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area.
At the same time, Ukraine has sent its forces into Russia’s Kursk region in recent weeks in the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II. The move is partly an effort to force Russia to draw troops away from the Donetsk front.
Elsewhere, the number of wounded following a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday continued to rise.
Six people were killed, including a 14-year-old girl, when glide bombs struck five locations across the city, said regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. Writing on social media Saturday, he said that the number of injured had risen from 47 to 96.
Syniehubov also confirmed that the 12-story apartment block that was hit by one bomb strike, setting the building ablaze and trapping at least one person on an upper floor, would be partly demolished.
Ukrainian officials have previously pointed to the Kharkiv strikes as further evidence that Western partners should scrap restrictions on what the Ukrainian military can target with donated weapons.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Kyiv had presented Washington with a list of potential long-range targets within Russia for its approval. “I hope we were heard,” he said.
He also denied speculation that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ’s decision to dismiss the commander of the country’s air force Friday was directly linked to the destruction of an F-16 warplane that Ukraine received from its Western partners four days earlier.
The order to dismiss Lt. Gen. Mykola Oleshchuk was published on the presidential website minutes before an address which saw Zelenskyy stress the need to “take care of all our soldiers.”
“This is two separate issues,” said Umerov. “At this stage, I would not connect them.”
The number of injured also continued to rise in the Russian border region of Belgorod, where five people were killed Friday by Ukrainian shelling, said Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. He said Sunday that 46 people had been injured, of whom 37 were in the hospital, including seven children. Writing on social media, Gladkov also said that two others had been injured in Ukrainian shelling across the region.