Three Hassidic Israelis were arrested Sunday for their suspected involvement in several murder and disappearance cases that occurred in the 1980s and early 1990s in Jerusalem.
The suspects, two men and a woman, are all in their 60s and members of Rabbi Eliezer Berland's Shuvu Banim sect.
After their arrest, the three were taken for questioning to the Central Unit in Police's Jerusalem District.
one of the incidents the three were involved in is the disappearance and probable murder of 17-year-old Nissim Shitrit in 1986.
Shitrit, who at the time lived in Jerusalem's Sanhedria neighborhood, was attacked by the Mishmarot Tzniut (modesty patrols) who threatened to stop meeting with girls he knew.
Following the incident, he is presumed to have been kidnapped from his yeshiva in Ashdod and was declared missing six months later.
The suspects were also allegedly involved in the 1990 murder of Avraham Edri, who left the yeshiva where he was a student and was found dead in Jerusalem's Ramot Forest the next day. Edri was also a member of a modesty patrol.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court has placed a gag order on all other details of the case.
Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the disgraced leader of the sect, was convicted in 2016 after admitting to two counts of indecent sexual acts and one sexual assault. In June, he was convicted on charges of fraud, exploitation, attempted intimidation, tax offenses and money laundering.
First published: 12:58, 10.17.21