Inquiry finds no fault in IPS protocol in Topaz suicide

Magistrate assigned to investigate possible IPS negligence in popular entertainer's suicide find no wrongdoing on part of detention center personnel

Eli Senyor|Published: 04.17.11 , 14:09

The investigating judge assigned to investigate possible negligence by Israeli Prison Service personnel in the suicide of popular entertainer Dudu Topaz submitted his report Sunday, finding no wrongdoing on part of the Nitzan Detention Center personnel.

Topaz, who was arrested in 2009 on various criminal conspiracy charges, committed suicide by hanging in his cell, on August 20. He was 62.

Ramla Magistrate's Court Judge Hagai Tarsi, who supervised the police investigation into Topaz' death – which included Central Police District officers interviewing all Nitzan Detention Center personnel – determined that the suicide was "unassisted."

Justice Tarsi noted that his findings were reinforced by several things, including a letter Topaz left for his brother, written in a code the two developed as children.

Topaz's children at his funeral (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Miki Goldenberg, Topaz' brother, helped investigators decipher the letter, which read: "God help me, this will be over with easily… It's better this way, for the kids. Not because of the past, but because of the future. Believe me. I'm sorry."

Topaz' coded letter mentioned two other inmates, raising initial suspicions they were somehow involved. Nevertheless, Tarsi determined there "wasn’t a speck of evidence to support that theory."

Under unprecedented watch

Further investigation of IPS protocol found that Topaz was alive and accounted for during the 05:35 bed-check, as well as in the five bed- checks that followed.

The detention center's social worker's taped conversations with Topaz led her to believe he may be suicidal, which according to the probe's report, let to Topaz "being kept under unprecedented watch."

Despite finding no evidence to support any allegations of wrongful death, he did mention an electrical cable found in the cell, which Topaz used to hang himself; noting that "despite the cables being in plain sight, no one detected the potential risk."

Justice Tarsi did however find that the IPS "should have derived several operative conclusion," from suicides which took place in other prisons.