Last update - 00:00 07/02/2007
Roman Zadorov pleads not guilty to murder of Katzrin teen
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
Roman Zadorov, charged with murdering 13-year-old Tair Rada in the Golan Heights town of Katzrin in December, plead not guilty Wednesday in the Nazareth District Court.
Zadorov's attorney David Spiegel submitted the plea after the indictment was read in the courtroom, and the presiding judge agreed to his request for a one-month continuance to allow the defense to study the prosecution case.
Once the proceedings resume, Spiegel will file a written explanation for the not guilty plea, after which the court will hear arguments as to whether Zadorov's confession and reenactment of the crime can be submitted as evidence during the trial.
Zadorov confessed several days after his arrest, but then recanted, saying had endured intense police pressure to confess.
On Tuesday, Channel 10 reported that hair taken from where the body of Tair Rada was found does not belong to Zadorov.
According to tests carried out by a U.S. laboratory, the hairs' DNA does not match Zadorov's.
The Justice Department refused to comment on the findings but a senior police officer said evidence against Zadorov is firm regardless of the U.S. test results.
"The fact that the prosecution filed an indictment based on substantial evidence that exists implicating Zadorov without waiting for the U.S. lab results show there is sufficient evidence tying him to the murder, and the case isn't based wholly on that issue," he said.
Spiegel said, however, that the test results support other evidence that prove his client's innocence.
"I am not building his defense case only on the U.S. findings, and there are many other arguments strengthening my client's version [of events]," Spiegel said.