Murder victim Tair Rada‘s mother, Ilana Rada, has accused the police of “dragging their feet” on reopening the investigation into her daughter’s murder, N12 reported on Wednesday.
“I think they’ve reached the bottom of the bottom here,” Ilana told N12. “It’s not possible for the state to release someone who was accused of murder, pay him compensation, and stand behind this ruling – but leave the murder case unknown, as if it doesn’t matter who murdered Tair.”
Ilana was referring to the 2023 acquittal of Roman Zadarov, the custodian at the Katzrin school where Tair had been murdered in 2006. Zadarov had confessed to killing Tair following a mental breakdown, but retracted his confession days after giving it, with the court noting numerous inconsistencies in his confession and the evidence in the case.
Ilana’s lawyer, Tal Ben-Even, noted that last year the police had established a committee to assess whether to reopen Tair’s case. “This is an unusual thing,” Ben-Even stated. “They have invented something here which doesn’t exist: A committee to investigate whether to open the case.”
“I don’t know of anything like this,” the attorney added, “Either they open the case or not.”
Police not investigating new evidence, attorney claims
Ben-Even claimed that the police had not looked into new pieces of evidence that have arisen in recent years, thanks to modern technologies.
“We are all Ilana Rada,” Ben-Even said. “There is a 14-year-old girl who was murdered 20 years ago whose murder case has not been solved or even opened. This truth is of no interest to any of the leaders of the law enforcement agencies.”
The police rejected Ilana and Ben-Even’s allegations, claiming that the case was complicated and that their investigative forces were working to uncover the truth.
