Three suspects in two decades-old cold cases, including head of the Shuvu Banim community Rabbi Eliezer Berland, were due to be released Thursday, police announced.
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Berland, who was arrested while serving a prison sentence for other convictions, will return to prison. Two other suspects – Berland's son-in-law Tzvi Zucker and a mayor whose name is still under a gag order – were expected to face certain restrictions once released.
It appeared that police were unable to prove that the three were connected to the murder of taxi driver Avi Edri, and the other charges fall outside the statute of limitations.
In October, police reported that more than 30 years after the murders of Edri and Nissim Shitrit 1990 and 1986, respectively, three suspects – all in their 60s – had been arrested in connection with the killings.
The investigation is being handled by the Jerusalem District Police's major crimes unit, which is still trying to solve the murders of Shitrit and Edri, who was a taxi driver and maintenance workers at the Shuvu Banim Yeshiva in Jerusalem.
The latest development in the case came after Kan 11 broadcast a miniseries about Berland, head of the Shuvu Banim Hassidic sect, titled "Harav Hanistar" ("The Hidden Rabbi). The series, which aired about a year and a half ago after its creator, Shany Haziza, spent years researching it, probed the connection of the Shuvu Banim community to the disappearance of Shitrit and the murder of Edri, four years later. The series also claimed that members of the Shuvu Banim "modesty patrols" were supposedly behind both acts.
Shitrit, a resident of Jerusalem who was a student at a yeshiva in Ashdod, disappeared in January 1986 and was last seen in the car of a person known as Mike, whom he had met a week earlier. A few weeks before he vanished, Shitrit filed a police complaint that he had been abducted and severely beaten by the Shuvu Banim modesty squads after they accused him of having relationships with girls. Shitrit named one of his alleged attackers, who was arrested and questioned, but because the police did not have sufficient evidence against him, the suspect was released.
Edri, who was 41 at the time of his death, worked as a taxi driver and a maintenance man at Shuvu Banim Yeshiva. His body was found in Ramot Forest and bore signs of violence. He was murdered after a night out with his wife. Even at the time of his murder, police thought he had been killed by members of the modesty patrol, who suspected him of involvement with married Haredi women.
The police announced that they plan to continue the investigation, and that additional arrests could follow. Police also plan to investigate Berland himself to see if the rabbi was involved in the cases. In 2016, Berland was convicted after admitted to two counts of indecent sexual acts and one count of sexual assault. In June 2021, he was convicted on charges of fraud, exploitation, attempted intimidation, tax offenses, and money laundering.
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