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צילום: אלכס קולומויסקי
Ex-police detective faces child porn possession charges
Former Galilee Subdistrict Police officer indicted for possession of child pornography following Interpol tip-off. Defense claims images inadvertently downloaded to his PC by P2P software
Cleared for publication: Yogev Elimelech, 39, a former detective with the Galilee Subdistrict Police was indicted for keeping materials of a pedophilic nature on his personal computer.
The charges against Elimelech were filed in 2008 and the trial has now reached the evidentiary stage. The case, heard by the Haifa District Court, was previously under a gag order, which was lifted Wednesday.
Elimelech adamantly denied all charges against him.
According to a police source, Elimelech was dismissed from the police prior to the indictment, after he was found to use excessive force.
Elimelech's Nahariya home was searched following a tip from Interpol. As part of the search, the police seized his home computer, which was found to contain 25 movies of a pedophilic nature.
The indictment, filed in December 2008, alleged the movies depicted images of minors, either naked or engaging in intercourse. The files were apparently downloaded from the internet. The charges against Elimelech included counts of possession of child pornography.
Police investigators told the court about the Interpol tip-off, which included a list of pedophiles worldwide who were using certain websites to download images. The list included several Israeli users, including Elimelech.
The defense argued that the materials found their way to Elimelech's computer following the use of P2P software, and that "such infiltration is a known phenomenon to anyone using such software. This is not a man who in interested in such material or one who suffers from such sick tendencies."
The defense supported its claim by citing that Elimelech's computer contained "only" 25 movies, while those of others implicated in the case contained thousands, sometimes tens of thousands, images.
"This is an unfortunate case that could happen to anyone using such software," said the defense.
