Last update - 00:00 02/01/2007
Judge slaps gag order on Katzrin teen murder case
By Eli Asheknazi, Haaretz Correspondent
Acre Magistrate's Court Judge Shaul Tzemach issued a gag order on Tuesday for all details relating to the murder of 13-year-old Tair Rada in Katzrin.
The judge agreed to the request, issued by the Galilee Subdistrict Police interrogation department, to forbid "the publication of all information, new evidence, the identity of suspects, witnesses or any other thing related to the case, whether it has already appeared in the press and whether it hasn't."
The judge wrote in his decision that he was convinced that "the publication of the investigation's findings to the last detail in the press is disrupting and harming the investigation, and may even cause it to fail. This tragic event obligates us to give precedence to an unhindered investigation that is not being examined by the watchful public eye.
"I have also taken into consideration the issue of transparency and the right of the public to know, and have reached the conclusion that granting the requested order will not prevent public and other criticism, if it is justified, [from being heard] when this order is revoked," Tzemach wrote.
Meanwhile, State Prosecutor Eran Shendar instructed police and prosecution officials working on the case to avoid publishing additional information in the coming period. An assessment of the investigation's status was held Tuesday in the State Prosecutor's Office. The head of the police investigations and intelligence department, Yochanan Danino, participated in the discussion along with the special investigative team set up in the Northern District Police which also included northern district prosecution representatives, among others. Shendar received a detailed update on the investigation, and instructed police on how to proceed.
Contrary to recent reports, the investigation is still at its height and is not coming to an end. Police, along with prosecutors, are apparently examining other possibilities in addition to the suspicions that Rada was murdered by a suspect currently in police custody.
One of the issues raised in the assessment is the need to keep a low profile in the coming weeks, both due to the intense press coverage of the case and because of the large number of people who are meddling, including Rada family attorney Moshe Maroz, the defense attorney, and private investigators hired by various people.
Nofei Golan High School students Tuesday criticized what they termed the "irresponsible statements from various sources in the media, accusing students of being involved in the murder." The criticism came in the wake of comments made by the Rada family's attorneys and a private investigator working for the family, according to which police should investigate the possibility that a student murdered Rada.
"These accusations, which are based on fragments of rumors that where examined and investigated by police, cause great difficulty for students," wrote the students in a signed letter to the media. "Time and again, private investigators and attorneys are pointing the accusing finger at one student or another, without any factual basis or responsibility for the emotional harm these students endure."