Reasonable suspicion of involvement in murder: arrest of Eldar Dayan's two friends extended
Judge Ronen Peleg rejected the defense attorneys' request to release Omri Peretz and Maxim Barberman. The police noted that the two were the last to be with Dayan before his death, and that an opinion from the Institute of Forensic Medicine regarding the cause of death has not yet been received.
The arrest of Omri Peretz and Maxim Barberman, friends of Eldar Dayan and suspects in his murder, was extended today, Wednesday, by six days. Judge Ronen Peleg rejected the defense attorneys' requests to release the two and determined that there is reasonable suspicion of committing the offenses attributed to them.
"A review of the investigation file shows that there is reasonable suspicion of committing the offenses attributed to the suspects. The suspicion does not stem only from the fact that they were the last ones with him before his death," the judge determined in his decision.
Police representative Yuri Dobrinsky said during the hearing that this is the sixth extension of the two's detention. According to him, the police requested to extend their detention by seven days, at the end of which a 30-day detention period will conclude, and after which the approval of the Attorney General will be required for their continued detention.
"We still do not have an opinion from the Institute of Forensic Medicine determining the cause of death," said Dobrinsky. He also claimed that Barberman smashed the window of Dayan's car and threatened him with murder, after which he disappeared, and subsequently his body was found. According to the police representative, "the suspects were the last ones who were with him before his death."
Defense arguments
Advocate Coral Siboni, representing Barberman, argued that the suspicion against him has weakened and that there is no evidence linking him to Dayan's death. "The investigative unit arrested five suspects on suspicion of causing injuries to the deceased that led to his death, and therefore there is no reason to keep him in detention," she said.
Advocate Chen Baruch, representing Peretz, also argued that at this stage there is no determination that this is a murder. "There is no opinion that determines that a murder was committed at all. He was initially arrested as a hostage until the missing person was found and later became a suspect in the murder. He has been in detention for 24 days and it is time to release the suspect," she said.
Despite the defense's arguments, the judge determined that at this stage there is reasonable suspicion against the two and ordered their detention to be extended by six days.
