Twelve teenagers from the Amakim region are suspected of repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl over the course of four years, the Afula Magistrate's Court cleared for publication on Wednesday.
According to suspicions, the teenagers, aged 14-17, had sexually assaulted and sodomized the girl, who lives in their city, since she was 10. Some of the teens are also suspected of extorting and threatening her.
On Tuesday the teenagers were released to house arrest after being held in police custody for about a week and a half.
The suspects' parents issued a statement saying, "Our children are normal; they have done nothing wrong."
Attorney Yaniv Avitan, who represents three of the suspects, said, "Apparently the investigation led to the conclusion that there is no reason to keep them in custody. They were interrogated several times and stuck to a very clear version of the events."
The investigation was launched after social workers in the girl's city complained to the police that she had had been sodomized by a group of teenagers. Investigators, who gathered enough evidence to arrest the teens on January 31, described the girl's account of the affair as chilling.
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