Call to reexamine Kfar Duma case

Sunday, October 28, 2018, 12:04 Will a development in the case of Ramon Zadorov, who was found guilty of the murder of a schoolgirl, Tair Rada, z”l, in 2006, influence the Kfar Duma case? On the morning of Sunday, October 28, in light of new evidence that has been discovered in the Ramon Zadorov case, Attorney Asher Ohayon, who is representing Amiram Ben Uliel, one of the central suspects in the Kfar Duma case, has called for a re-examination by the Attorney General’s office so that an innocent man is not convicted.
“After seeing the scandalous conduct in the Zadorov case I must say that I am not surprised,” said Ohayon. “The Kfar Duma case in which I am representing a defendant, Amiram Ben Uliel, is based on a confession extracted from him after he was interrogated under duress, unbearable torture for which the court issued a gag order specifically because of its severity.”
In conclusion Ohayon called on the Attorney General’s office to re-examine their position: “I hope and expect the Attorney General’s office to re-examine this case, and not convict an innocent man.”
In the Kfar Duma case, the Central District Court ruled that Ben Uliel and another defendant, a minor, had been tortured during GSS interrogations. In light of the torture the court invalidated the confessions extracted from the minor by torture and also some of the confessions that were extracted under duress from Ben Uliel.
Recently activists have been working to expose the “Duma Blood Libel”, as they call it. Educator, social activist and Lower Galilee resident Michael Fuah, a past general manager of Manhigut Yehudit, and adviser to Minister of Welfare & Social Services Moshe Kahlon, opened a Facebook page with other activists under the name “Duma Blood Libel”. The page, which is part of a campaign to prove the innocence of Ben Uliel, has several hundred followers.
“The drama of the Roman Zadorov trial teaches us how the Attorney General’s office and the police are willing to cover up an investigation and put an innocent man in jail while public pressure breathes down their necks. We also learn from this the worthlessness of a confession extracted under emotional pressure, all the more so when severe torture is involved, as it was in the investigation of the Duma blood libel,” wrote the activists on the Facebook page.
“Their [the police] line of reasoning caused the police to ignore the hairs found at the scene of the [Tair Rada murder] crime. After 12 years and only due to pressure from the defense attorney, have any hairs been examined – and only three. The GSS decided that the arson in Kfar Duma was carried out by hilltop youth and avoided exploring other directions of investigation. Amiram has been in remand for three years already, separated from his little daughter and his wife, through no fault of his own. It is time to release him,” they added.