Underworld figure Domrani freed just two weeks after arrest

Shalom Domrani was taken into custody for allegedly trying to influence the Netivot municipal elections.

By BEN HARTMAN
Police car 370 (photo credit: reuters)
Police car 370
(photo credit: reuters)
Less than two weeks after he was arrested as part of a highprofile extortion case involving allegations he tried to influence the Netivot municipal elections, Southern crime boss Shalom Domrani was ordered released from custody by a Rishon Lezion judge on Wednesday.
Shortly after the decision, the judge ordered the release delayed at least until a hearing on Thursday morning, following an appeal by police.
If no further evidence is presented or the judge is not convinced during the hearing there is further justification to keep him in custody, Domrani will be a free man.
Domrani’s arrest was was announced by Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch during a live interview on November 10.
Aharonovitch announced that police had arrested the head of a crime organization, part of what he deemed police’s unyielding efforts to fight organized crime.
The case involved allegations that Domrani threatened Netivot Rabbi Ya’acov Ifergan as part of a conspiracy with Ifergan’s rival, Rabbi Yoram Abergil, to influence the Netivot elections in favor of a candidate Abergil supported.
In addition to Domrani, the court ordered the release of five other suspects arrested in the case, though they have also been delayed by the judge. Abergil was released to house arrest on Sunday.
Moshe Sherman, Domrani’s attorney, said Wednesday evening that the decision confirms “what I have said since the beginning; they had no evidence against my client and this entire case was just an attempt to placate the public and tell them, look, we’re doing something.”