Will injured minors be able to complain against Golden Silk?

The more serious the offense attributed to the subject of the complaint, the longer the statute of limitations for dealing with the issue. There is no statute of limitations for two offenses – murder and the law to prosecute the Nazis and their aides. The statute of limitations effectively precludes an initiative of legal treatment of events that have occurred in the past. The limitation periods are fixed by law for each offense and they vary according to the nature of the case and its circumstances.

According to the statute of limitations, after several years have passed since the offense occurred – it is impossible to conduct legal proceedings regarding it. Therefore, filing a complaint with the police will not result in the opening of a criminal case, and if a civil lawsuit is filed it will be denied. Two main reasons for this: The first – many years after the offense was committed, the injury to the victim has been numb, forgiven and perhaps even forgotten. The second – deserves forgiveness for those who committed an offense a long time ago and allow him to continue on the normal course of his life.

At the same time, these arguments are greatly weakened when it comes to sexual offenses committed by a minor or a person in charge of a family member. The deviation from the law regarding the extension of the “race to obsolescence” in relation to sexual offenses against minors mainly states in the ruling that “the factual situation is that the victim of the offense was in a state of mind or under threat that did not allow him to discover the fact that the offense was committed.” And forgiveness. ”

For the past decade, the Knesset, the Ministry of Justice, the courts and aid organizations have been working to change the statute of limitations in relation to sexual offenses committed on minors and victims of harm by a person stronger than them. The problem of flexing the statute of limitations is not simple.

Former State Attorney Shai Nitzan, who changed the guidelines regarding victims of sexual assault, previously wrote to attorneys: “Filing a complaint, testifying and appearing in court for a victim of a sexual offense often involves unique difficulties stemming from the nature of the offense, such as fear of further confrontation with the abuser. Whether due to the circumstances of the commission of the offense and whether due to the close relationship or dependence between the victim and the offending person.

“Fear of intimate exposure to strangers, the need to recreate and re-experience what happened and the loss of control during and after the injury, reluctance to a lengthy criminal proceeding during which the victim is likely to testify in court and ask difficult questions, both about the incident and his personality, life and past, fear of non “Trusting the story of the victim of the crime and / or blackening it by the offender, and anxiety about exposing things to the immediate environment and its reaction to it.” When it comes to casualties from closed communities, the situation is often even more difficult.

The State Attorney’s’ Guidelines for Plaintiffs establish a unique rule regarding the commencement of the “race to obsolescence” with respect to certain sexual offenses, and derogate from the established rule that the count begins from the date the offense is committed. According to the law, the statute of limitations for sexual offenses committed on minors will begin only when the minor reaches the age of 18 and will end when he reaches the age of 28.

The prosecution clarifies in the directive that the passage of time is a significant circumstance in the prosecution’s consideration of prosecuting a person, both on the evidentiary level and on the public interest level. Sometimes, the person on trial is no longer “the same person” who committed the acts, and this is a circumstance that cannot be ignored. However, it was decided in the Knesset that, in general, the weight that should be given to the passage of time in the sexual offenses in question is less valuable than the public interest in prosecuting these offenses.

Even when it is clear that it is justified to open an investigation and file an indictment, the State Attorney’s Office is aware of the difficult problems in conducting the legal proceedings precisely because of the “stretching” of the statute of limitations. The State Attorney’s Office’s guidelines regarding the prosecution’s considerations state that a long time has elapsed since the commission of the offense, a fact that must also be given meaning from the point of view of the defendant.

The State Attorney’s Office recognizes that after a long time, and in particular decades after the offense was committed, the defendant’s ability to defend himself at his trial is impaired. In addition, there is a general social / value perception that is valid in relation to all criminal offenses, according to which the justification for prosecuting a person for an offense he committed decreases after many years from the time the offense was committed.

Due to all these, criminal law attaches great importance to the lapse of time in many and varied aspects such as determining a statute of limitations for most of the criminal offenses, imposing an obligation to get the approval of a senior prosecutor to file an indictment in some cases, deleting the criminal record over time and more.

The considerations of the plaintiff who decides to examine the public interest and prosecute for sexual offenses include the severity of the act, the type and intensity of harm caused to the victim of the offense including mental injury, multiplicity, frequency and location, similar open or closed cases against the suspect, multiplicity of victims of crime, Age of the victim at the time of the commission of the acts and the age difference between the offender and the victim of the offense.

Magen assisted in an investigation published in Haaretz about the evidence against gold silk. “I am very happy that it has finally come out,” Racheli Gottlieb Rushgold, vice president of the association, told Ynet. “We have been receiving this evidence for several years, and it is important to explain and say that most sexual assaults are not caused by a monster that emerges at two in the morning.” .

“These are people who can be charming and amazing, as in this case it is really a person who also does a lot of good. Alongside that he does a lot of good, he has very dark sides. Therefore, it is so important to talk about it and understand this phenomenon of sexual abuse, which really It can happen by people we could not have imagined. ”

Referring to the additional evidence against Golden Silk, Gottlieb Rushgold said, “Since Thursday, since the publication of the important investigation, I have received more testimonies from people who have been injured. We already have six more testimonies. Unfortunately, most of them have obsolescence and are really very shaky, very difficult. A secret they have carried with them for many years and really this publicity has given them strength.

“This is a regular pattern of action, these are difficult acts. I am glad that he gave up the Israel Prize, I am glad that he retired from the ZKA and I really hope that instead of the announcement that denies the actions – he will take responsibility for his actions. This is a larger scale than we can imagine. “

– Golden Silk claims that they are trying to overthrow it.

“It is important to say that we are working on the investigation long before the Israel Prize is announced. This is not an investigation that is being held for two weeks, this is an investigation that has been going on for many months. We would be happy if Yehuda Meshi Zahav did not harm and there was no evidence against it. I want to take advantage of your important stage. Every mom and dad who sees this knowledge and their stomach hurts, understands that sexual abuse can occur by anyone.

“We run free workshops and give parents tools on how to take care of the children, how to identify warning lights, how to talk to the children about this issue, how to respond to the child who comes to tell such a thing. Every child who is sexually abused wants help, he wants to share with the mother but he “He is very scared. He is afraid that she will be angry, he is afraid that she will not believe. It is really important to us that we take all this shock to a good place of healing and correction.”

Investigators from the National Fraud Investigation Unit (IAHA) in Lahav 433 are due to begin examining the evidence published today against Golden Silk. The head of the Investigations Division, Superintendent Yigal Ben Shalom, is holding consultations this weekend. The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether gold.

According to the evidence, gold silk allegedly sexually assaulted children, boys, girls and women. It was also claimed that many in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods of Jerusalem knew about his actions. According to the testimonies, for decades – starting in the 1980s – Golden Silk took advantage of his status, power, money and even the organization he heads to attack his victims.

In a letter to ZAK volunteers, Meshi Zahav announced that he was resigning from the organization and the Israel Prize, but refused to take responsibility for the acts attributed to him. “Zedim rose up and slandered me, but I do not stand alone,” he said. “An entire organization broke through the walls and set up Bridges and taught respect and love between the sectors and communities is at stake. ”

Golden Silk further noted: “Out of concern for the holy organization I built with both hands and a deep recognition of its vitality to the fabric of life in the country, I draw the obvious conclusion from the great storm, even when these plots are no longer established and predicted as gossip and closing accounts in front of me. “I have a decision to give me the Israel Prize in recognition of my work in the organization, which is nothing but a sign of honor until the last of the volunteers. Second, the situation I found myself in necessitates me to take time off from my position in the organization until the cloud is removed.”