Meir Rubinstein, named as suspect detained over cold case murder

Beitar Illit Mayor Meir Rubinstein was named Tuesday as one of the suspects arrested and later released as part of a murder investigation tied to sex offender rabbi Eliezer Berland’s Shuvu Bonim sect.

Nobody has been indicted in the 1990 murder of 41-year-old Avi Edri, who was found beaten to death in the Ramot Forest in the north of Jerusalem.

Rubinstein has denied involvement in the killing and tried to prevent the publication of his name on the grounds that he was 17 years old at the time of his alleged involvement, and was therefore a minor.

His lawyers said Rubinstein was innocent, and publication of his name could cause “severe damage” to his reputation.

However, judges at the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that his name could be released.

“The nature of the acts in which he is a suspect and the fact that investigative actions are still being carried out in his case tip the scales in favor of allowing the publication of his name,” Justice Yosef Elron wrote in his decision, noting that Rubinstein’s name had already been publicized on social media.

Rubinstein was detained on November 22 in connection with the murder of Edri, and was released on December 2.

At his initial remand hearing, a police representative told the court “the defendant acted together with others in an operation that led to [Edri’s] murder, and was also involved in the murder itself.”

The judge said during the hearing that the mayor had dressed up as a woman and driven a vehicle heading a convoy that led Edri to the murder scene.

Channel 12 news said Rubinstein was dressed as a woman to “lure” Edri.

Several other suspects awaited them and they proceeded to beat Edri to death at Berland’s direction, according to the evidence read aloud by the judge at the hearing. The Kan public broadcaster reported that Berland ordered the castration of Edri.

Another unnamed suspect in Edri’s killing recently died of complications related to the coronavirus at a northern hospital.

Two men were charged earlier this month over the 1986 murder of a teen also linked to the sect.

Dozens of figures — including many with ties to local and national politics — have been questioned in connection with the two alleged homicides, after the case burst back onto the scene in mid-October with a series of arrests.

Binyamin Ze’evi, son of former minister Rehavam Ze’evi, and Shuvu Bonim follower Baruch Sharvit were indicted over the murder of 17-year-old Nissim Shitrit. Shitrit’s body was never found and the charges were the first made in connection with his death.

Berland was himself released earlier this month from remand after he was detained in connection with the two murders. Police have accused Berland of sending his followers to kill Shitrit.

Berland’s cult-like Shuvu Bonim offshoot of the Bratslav Hasidic sect has had repeated run-ins with the law, including attacking witnesses.

Berland fled Israel in 2013 amid allegations that he had sexually assaulted several female followers. After evading arrest for three years and slipping through various countries, Berland returned to Israel and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in November 2016, on two counts of indecent acts and one case of assault, as part of a plea deal that included seven months of time served. He was freed just five months later, in part due to his ill health.

Though he was released from police custody in regards to the decades-old murders, he will remain in prison for swindling sick and elderly followers out of millions of shekels. He previously served a sentence in prison for sexual assault.