Mob brothers ordered to remain in jail

Moshe and Rafi Ohana, awaiting trial for two hits, considered a flight risk.

By DAN IZENBERG
After examining classified material presented by the state, Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran accepted its request to return Moshe and Rafi Ohana to jail to prevent them from fleeing the country. The two are on trial on suspicion of having ordered the execution of Haim Shabi, whom they suspected of killing their brother, Hanania, in 2003. The hired assassin, Yaron Sankar, was convicted on October 15, 2006, on several charges including the murder of Shabi, and Ramat Hasharon barber Tomer Shabbat, whom Sankar originally misidentified as the intended victim. The Ohana brothers were indicted in Tel Aviv District Court in 2004. However, their trial was suspended because Sankar was being tried separately. As a result, because of what was known as the Kinzey rule, Sankar could not testify against the Ohana brothers while his own trial was taking place. In the meantime, they remained in jail, having been remanded in custody until the end of the judicial proceedings. On October 8, 2006, the High Court of Justice repealed the Kinzey rule in response to a petition filed by the state in a highly unusual move. But because of the long delay in the trial caused up until then by the obstacle of the Kinzey rule, the brothers were released from jail and placed under house arrest. That is, until two days ago, when the police re-arrested them. "We are seriously concerned that Rafi and Moshe Ohana will escape from Israel," the state's representative, Elad Weinshal, told Joubran on Tuesday morning. The two are suspected of having ordered false passports and also of having extorted "protection" money. The brothers are represented by Avigdor Feldman and Ze'ev Vishnia. Feldman charged that "the prosecution's request breaks all the rules. It is essentially saying that these people, who were released from jail because their trial was prolonged, must now be rearrested, even as their trial is drawing to its end. The prosecution and the state are grossly and cynically exploiting the judicial system. It proves they are frustrated because they fear the trial will end and the defendants will be acquitted." Joubran, however, ruled in favor of the state and ordered the brothers to remain in jail.