The Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday ordered to release from remand brothers Moshe and Rafi Ohana, charged with murder, in light of a Supreme Court ruling that their remand cannot be extended any further. The ruling instructed that the Ohana brothers be held under house arrest instead.

The defendants were arrested two years and 9 months ago and had their remand extended several times due to longs delays in their trial.

Prosecutors allege that the Ohana brothers are heading a crime organization and are responsible, among other things, for two murders. One of the main reasons for the delays in their trial is the Kinsey Rule, which prevented from their alleged hit man - Yaron Senkar - from testifying in their trial.

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According to the Kinsey Rule, a defendant on trial cannot testify in another trial.

While the High Court has annulled the Kinsey Rule's validity, Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levi recently ruled that the defendants' right to freedom overrules other considerations and ordered the state to employ alternative incarceration methods.

On Tuesday Judge David Rosen ordered the release of the Ohana brothers to full house arrest on condition they place electronic handcuffs to their body, placing bail at NIS 100,000.

Their release has been delayed by 48 hours following an announcement by prosecutor Miki Foran that the state will appeal against the ruling.


"Justice Levi's ruling is reasonable, this may have been the longest term of remand before a trial ruling in Israel's history," said attorney Ze'ev Vishniya who represents the Ohana brothers.

"I cannot see what the prosecution is going to appeal against after the Supreme Court has issued its opinion," he added.

Prosecutors are confident they can convict the Ohana brothers and therefore fear they would attempt to escape from law-enforcement authorities if released from remand.