By: Aryeh Savir
Over five years after his final conviction for the murder of Tair Rada, the saga of Roman Zadorov refuses to rest as he is still claiming his innocence in court and is fighting for his release.
The High Court of Justice on Sunday heard another appeal filed Zadorov, who was convicted of the murder of 13-year-old Tair Rada.
The hearing comes with “new forensic medical evidence” submitted by Zadorov last June, following which he asked to be released from prison.
Judge Hanan Meltzer will decide whether to hold a retrial in the Rada murder case or uphold Zadorov’s conviction.
Zadorov’s lawyer claimed at the hearing that the prosecution knows that Zadorov is innocent but that they are “holding him captive.”
The High Court of Justice in December 2015 convicted Zadorov of the murder, seemingly putting an end to a controversial case that captured the public’s interest for years.
The verdict was not unanimous, with two judges out of three ruling that Zadorov was guilty. A dissenting opinion accepted Zadorov’s appeal and ruled that there was too much doubt regarding the evidence to convict him.
Zadorov was charged with the 2006 murder of Rada, then an eighth grader, who was brutally stabbed to death in a bathroom in her school in the city of Katzrin in the Golan Heights. The murderer then locked the stall from the inside and climbed out over the door.
Zadorov, an immigrant from Ukraine, had been working as a floorer in the school. He was arrested and charged for the murder even though no conclusive evidence was found against him. According to the indictment, Zadorov changed his clothes following the murder, cleaned the blood and replaced his knife’s blade.
In 2010, the Nazareth District Court first convicted Zadorov of the murder, a decision he appealed. In February of 2014 the court rejected the appeal, and again unanimously convicted him. He then appealed to the High Court, which convicted him for the third time.
Pieces of evidence presented over the years have cast doubt on whether Zadorov was the murderer. The most notable example is a report that the murder was committed using a serrated knife, while Zadorov had admitted to using a utility knife.
(TPS)
