After the reopening of the Tair Rada case: Olla Kravchenko responds - "If they summon me for an interrogation, I will arrive"
After the reopening of the case, Olla Kravchenko, whose case against her was closed for lack of guilt in 2021, stated: "I hope the new information leads to the murderer." Attorney Yarom Halevi noted: "There is only one serious direction." Despite rumors on the web that Roman Zadorov moved to a safe house, a check by Walla reveals that only yesterday he was seen going fishing.
After it became known that on Saturday the police reopened the investigation into the murder of Tair Rada and transferred the case from the Northern District Central Investigation Unit (YAMAR) to the Tel Aviv District YAMAR following new information, Olla Kravchenko published her first response to the development on her Facebook account. Kravchenko, whose name has been linked to the case for years, emphasized that the case conducted against her was closed back on July 14, 2021, for lack of guilt, and that if she is asked to appear for another interrogation, she will do so.
In a video she posted for her followers, she said: "There are new developments in the case of Tair Rada, new information has arrived and it has been transferred to a new investigation team that now needs to check it. I wish them a lot of success, I hope the new information leads to the murderer. The family deserves peace after so many years of uncertainty and suffering, I cannot even imagine."
According to her, "People are reaching out to me and strengthening me, thank you very much. I must say that I am perfectly fine. I don't feel the need to be extra strong, and I also don't think this thing has anything to do with me. But if they summon me for an interrogation, everything is fine. I will simply arrive at the interrogation just as I arrived every time they summoned me. In the end, the investigation file against me was closed for lack of guilt."
She later added: "If new information arrives, let them investigate to the end. I am there if needed. I want to hold a mirror up to your faces. My former partner is responsible for the whole plot. He is defendant number 5 in the lawsuit I filed through the office of attorney Amir Titonovich. He has avoided, with various excuses, arriving for the cross-examination that Amir is supposed to conduct with him five times in a row." Kravchenko lashed out: "I, Olla Kravchenko, was publicly accused and they held a public trial for me and accused me of murdering Tair Rada. Today I am a plaintiff in the District Court."
Kravchenko was referring to the fact that the case examined regarding her was closed by the decision of the State Attorney on July 14, 2021, for lack of guilt, after about nine years during which her name was linked to the affair.
After the case was closed, her attorneys, Daniel Haklai and Tomer Schwartz, stated: "The State Attorney's decision from 2021 speaks for itself. It is a decision to close the false libel against Olla with the sharp and clear reasoning of lack of guilt." They further added: "It goes without saying that this is a horrific blood libel invented by a violent and abusive partner after Olla bravely chose to separate from him. We are sorry that the mother of the victim of the terrible murder believes that there is substance to this false libel."
In the background, it should be noted that as early as 2023, Ilana Rada, Tair Rada's mother, requested to reopen the investigation file, claiming that there are additional investigation directions that have not yet been exhausted.
Attorney Yarom Halevi, who represented Roman Zadorov in the retrial and is currently being sued in the libel suit filed against him by Kravchenko, also addressed the reopening of the investigation in a conversation with Walla. According to him, "The reopening of the investigation, and by a unit other than the Northern District YAMAR, makes me very happy. The two judges who acquitted Zadorov determined in a rare manner powerful and clear facts regarding A.K., and even added and wrote in their context that the investigation should be reopened."
Halevi added: "As an expert in the affair and the evidence material, I believe there is only one serious direction that the investigation should be exhausted in, and that is the one who has been managing a libel suit against me and others for several years. I find it appropriate to take advantage of this suitable opportunity to direct the public to the book I wrote about the affair, in which all the truth about the affair is written, and of course about the plaintiff."
At the same time, since the news of the reopening of the investigation was published, various rumors have been circulated on social networks regarding Roman Zadorov as well, including claims that he moved to a safe house. A check by Walla reveals that the claims are incorrect, and that only yesterday Zadorov went fishing. Zadorov was finally acquitted of the murder of Tair Rada on March 30, 2023, after serving 17 years in prison, and subsequently reached a compensation agreement with the state in the amount of 17 million shekels.
Almost two decades after the murder that shook the country, one of the most stirring affairs in the history of the judicial system returns to the point of investigation. At this stage, no one knows if the new information will indeed lead to a breakthrough, but the police hope that the re-examination will provide answers to questions that have remained open for years and will allow, perhaps for the first time, to get closer to the truth.
