Bulletin: Roman Zadorov: Israel: Supreme Court to Rule on Zadorov Appeal on Tuesday The accused has been convicted twice in the 2006 murder of a teenage girl at a Golan high school. Forensic issues abound. "Supreme Court to Rule on Zadorov Appeal on Tuesday The accused has been convicted twice in the 2006 murder of a teenage girl at a Golan high school. Forensic issues - and an allegation of interference with the independence of the Coroner's office - abound. "At the center of a long session that the Supreme Court held a little over a year ago on the appeal of Zadorov’s second conviction was the issue of footprints at the murder scene, a locked toilet stall in a second floor lavatory at the Nofei Golan school in Katzrin, including blood found on Rada’s jeans. According to an expert prosecution witness, there was a high probability that the footprints were those of Zadorov. For its part, however, the defense presented the opinion of a former employee of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation who claimed that the blood stains were not footprints at all. Recently, as disclosed by Haaretz, a complication arose in the case after the head of the commission that oversees the prosecutor’s office, retired Judge Hila Gerstl, issued a decision regarding an attempt to change an affidavit by the head of the coroner’s office, Dr. Chen Kugel, who expressed opposition to the state’s position in the Zadorov case. For her part, Gerstl said this constituted “apparent interference in the chief testimony of a witness” and ruled that the prosecutor’s office had mishandled the case."

HEADING: "Supreme Court to Rule on Zadorov Appeal on Tuesday," by reporter Sharon Pulwar, published by Haaretz on December 22, 2105.


SUB-HEADING: "The accused has been convicted twice in the 2006 murder of a teenage girl at a Golan high school."


PHOTO CAPTION: "Dr. Maya Forman-Resnick testified on behalf of Roman Zadorov, right, at his murder trial."


GIST: "The Supreme Court will issue its decision on Wednesday in the appeal of the conviction of Roman Zadorov for the 2006 murder of a student, Tair Rada, at a school in the Golan Heights community of Katzrin. This is the second time the court is considering the case on appeal, after being presented with additional evidence and sending the case back to the Nazareth District Court for reconsideration. The three-judge Nazareth District Court panel ruled that the new evidence did undermine the conviction of Zadorov of the murder of the student, who was 13 at the time that she was stabbed to death. It therefore issued a second verdict of conviction. At the center of a long session that the Supreme Court held a little over a year ago on the appeal of Zadorov’s second conviction was the issue of footprints at the murder scene, a locked toilet stall in a second floor lavatory at the Nofei Golan school in Katzrin, including blood found on Rada’s jeans. According to an expert prosecution witness, there was a high probability that the footprints were those of Zadorov. For its part, however, the defense presented the opinion of a former employee of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation who claimed that the blood stains were not footprints at all. Recently, as disclosed by Haaretz, a complication arose in the case after the head of the commission that oversees the prosecutor’s office, retired Judge Hila Gerstl, issued a decision regarding an attempt to change an affidavit by the head of the coroner’s office, Dr. Chen Kugel, who expressed opposition to the state’s position in the Zadorov case. For her part, Gerstl said this constituted “apparent interference in the chief testimony of a witness” and ruled that the prosecutor’s office had mishandled the case. The prosecutor’s office also tried to scuttle the appointment of Dr. Maya Resnick-Forman to a senior position at the coroner’s office, which is commonly known as Abu Kabir but formally known as the National Institute for Forensic Medicine. That was due to her testimony in the Zadorov case. At a hearing on Resnick-Forman’s case in labor court, Kugel, the head of the coroner’s office, asked to testify on Resnick-Forman’s behalf. The prosecution demanded that Kugel eliminate the portions of his testimony in which he backed Resnick-Forman’s position on the Zadorov case and in which he expressed his opinion regarding the prosecution’s handling of the case. Kugel refused to change his testimony and the labor court ultimately ruled in Resnick-Forman’s favor and ordered her placed in her position at the coroner’s office immediately. Gerstl examined how the matter was handled and ruled that the prosecution had mishandled the matter involving Kugel, stating that his affidavit was not a draft that could be changed but rather a final document. “Any attempt to change it would constitute apparent interference in the chief testimony of a witness,” she stated."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.693145

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