More indictments likely on Sunday in Jerusalem child abuse case

Police plan to to issue an international arrest warrant for radical Rabbi Elior Chen, who fled to Canada and is considered the ringleader and "spiritual mentor" in one of the worst abuse cases in the state's history.

By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Two more indictments are expected to be filed on Sunday in the alleged abuse of as many as eight children of a Jerusalem family, as the monthlong police probe turns to Canada, police said Thursday. Police plan to to issue an international arrest warrant for radical Rabbi Elior Chen, who fled to Canada and is considered the ringleader and "spiritual mentor" in one of the worst abuse cases in the state's history. The two suspects who are expected to be charged on Sunday, Avraham Maskalchi and Roi Tzoref, had their remands extended on Thursday for four days. The two men are suspected of taking part in the systematic abuse of the children that included severe beatings, whippings and burnings. The suspects deny the allegations. During a pre-trial hearing on Thursday, a police representative told the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court that one of the suspects, who was responsible for educating a 12-year-old boy for half a year, would repeatedly beat and punch the child when he didn't want to study or didn't pay attention. "We are not just talking about a simple assault. We are talking about beating a 12-and-a-half-year-old boy with sticks," the police representative testified. At their arraignment on Sunday, the state plans to ask the Jerusalem District Court to remand the two men in custody for the duration of their trial. This past Sunday, the mother and a companion were charged with severely abusing her eight children, particularly the two youngest ones. Four other men are under arrest in the case, including a key suspect, Shimon Gabai, who was turned in to police on Wednesday by the father of the abused children. Chen and his followers are suspected of savagely and systematically beating two boys, aged three and four, with hammers, knives and other instruments for months, until the three-year-old suffered permanent brain damage last month. He is expected to remain in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. The men who allegedly carried out the abuse with the mother received instructions from Chen on how to "fix" the children's behavior and "cleanse" them of their "Satanic possession," according to the indictment. The mother forced her children to eat feces, locked them in a suitcase for three days - letting them out only for brief periods of time - repeatedly beat, whipped, and shook them, burned their hands with a lighter and a heater, and gave them freezing showers, according to the charge sheet. The mother and the "educators" are also suspected of pouring salt on the burn wounds of more than one child, stuffing their mouths with kippot, sealing their mouths with masking tape, and giving them alcoholic drinks until they vomited.