Russians requested extradition of Oshrenko murderer two years ago

The former headwaiter who is suspected of killing a family of six because he was fired from a restaurant owned by them is cited in more in one of more than 200 extradition requests on file at the Justice Ministry. Only four of those requests have reached the Jerusalem District Court this year, the only court in the country with the authority to hear extradition cases.

Damian Karlik, 38, is accused of killing a 3-year-old girl and 4-month-old boy, along with their parents and grandparents, because their father, Dmitry Oshrenko, fired him from his job at the family's high-end Rishon Letzion restaurant Premier.

The murders took place last month - two years after the Russian authorities requested Karlik's extradition because he was suspected of robbery in his native Russia.

The Justice Ministry's international division says the Russian authorities didn't send evidence on which the extradition request was based until the second half of 2008. By the time the Oshrenkos were killed, the request was being assessed for feasability.

The ministry gives priority to suspects considered dangerous - as long as there is sufficient evidence backing up the request, which is often not the case, said Irit Kohn, a former director of the international division.

"There are tons of extradition requests," Kohn said yesterday. "And it's clear that if you're talking about an extradition request for a dangerous murderer, about whom you get the impression that the evidence against him is serious, that request takes precedence."

However, the Justice Ministry said in a statement this week that the danger posed by the suspect is not a relevant consideration in deciding whether to extradite, unless the suspect is accused of committing the same crime in Israel.

Kohn called for a significant increase in the resources allotted to the international division so it could better deal with extradition requests and other work.

Twenty-six suspects could be extradited on the basis of the requests before the Jerusalem District Court, which relates to the number of cases, not suspects, in question. Some of the extradition requests have been filed by countries that do not have extradition treaties with Israel.

The suspects include Meir and Yitzhak Abergil, brothers accused of being crime bosses in Israel's underworld. They are wanted in the United States on charges of extortion and money laundering, and are also suspected of involvement in murder.

The Jerusalem court has decided to extradite the Abergil brothers and three other suspects; they have appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

In another case that has reached the court, the suspects are accused of defrauding elderly Americans of some $2 million. They allegedly acquired the personal information of thousands of Americans and, pretending to represent a law firm, told them they had won the lottery but that the winners had to pay tax on their winnings before they could receive the money.

A similar case involves Israelis accused of forging U.S. Internal Revenue Service documents and pretending to work for companies involved in American lotteries, in a successful bid to convince Americans to fork over money before receiving their winnings. Those suspects allegedly made tens of millions of dollars this way.

The final extradition case that has reached the courts this year involves Israeli and American suspects accused of filing 3,300 fraudulent tax statements with the IRS under the names of Americans serving prison sentences, receiving tax refunds worth some $4 million.