Attorney for Bar Noar witness says state canceling deal with his client
Justice Ministry confirms deal canceled; witness expected to be indicted for fabricating evidence and obstruction of justice.
By BEN HARTMANBar Noar witness(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
The State of Israel canceled its deal with the state witness in the Bar Noar double murder, the witness’s lawyer said Tuesday, adding that he expects his client to be indicted for fabricating evidence and obstruction of justice.Attorney Yair Regev said that he met with state prosecutors on Tuesday, who told him the deal was canceled, adding “from the beginning police shouldn’t have trusted him and depended solely on a problematic witness.”The Justice Ministry said it had told Regev it was weighing whether to cancel the deal.The witness, “Z.,” stands accused by police of fabricating evidence and tampering with the investigation, for his conduct while he was working for police and building the case against chief suspect Hagai Felician. Z. is suspected of falsifying his correspondence with Felician during those months, correspondence that was central to the case against him.The discovery of Z.’s alleged misconduct was made in February and led to the release of Felician to house arrest last Wednesday.Once Z. was arrested it became clear that it was only a matter of time before the total collapse of the case against Felician – which involved no DNA, fingerprints, eye witness or any connection to the pistol used in the murder – would occur.Z. was a childhood friend of Felician and the other earlier suspects in the case, Felician’s younger brother Benny and Z.’s relative Tarlan Hankishayev, all of whom grew up together in Pardess Katz.The double murder at the Bar Noar in August 2009 was the flagship case of Tel Aviv police and the subject of countless man hours of work before Z.contacted police from prison last year and said he knew who carried out the killings.Police signed a deal with Z., making him a state witness and sending him with a wire-tap and a police-supplied smart phone to get recordings and text messages implicating his childhood friends.
The case built up by Z.’s work led to the arrest of the suspects in June, after which Z. began to make headlines as a highly problematic witness, escaping from his safe house in Tel Aviv and violating an agreement not to talk to the press.Felician is now a free man, but must remain on house arrest until April 2.He is also banned from leaving the country but will be allowed to leave his house to visit the grave of his brother, 15-year-old Or, who died after falling from a building site in July.
