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Last update - 00:00 23/03/2006
Police release main suspect in death of life prisoner Alzam
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent

Police on Thursday unexpectedly released to house arrest famous crime figure Ya'akov Abargil after detaining him on suspicion of being involved in the death of life prisoner Yoni Alzam.

The unit for international crimes arrested Abargil ten days ago on suspicion of killing Alzam in his prison cell some four months ago.

Alzam was found dead in his jail cell in December 2005 just hours before he was scheduled to appear as a state witness against Shimon Zarihan, suspected in the death of Hanina Ohana in 2003. Alzam himself had been convicted for the murder and was serving a life sentence.
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Police suspect Abargil because he visited Alzam on the day of his death, and it is believed he is the person who delivered Alzam the cyanide he took later that day to kill himself. It is considered very difficult to obtain such a high concentration of cyanide.

Initially Abargil was to be charged with murder, but several days after the arrest police changed the charge against Abargil to coercion to commit suicide.

On Monday police arrested a woman suspected of supplying the cyanide that killed Alzam, but she was released a day later.

Police believe Alzam swallowed a pill he was told would make him ill in order to delay his testimony before the court. The pill that he swallowed in fact contained a considerable amount of poison certain to kill him, without his prior knowledge.

Police said they have evidence to believe that Alzam was killed to ensure that his testimony was not used to incriminate Zarihan. If it is proven that Alzam was killed, his testimony will not be considered valid to the court
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