Complaint Against Golan Filed to High Court: 'Order the Police Investigations Chief to Carry Out the Probe'

First published: N., the complainant against singer Eyal Golan in the “Friends Game” affair, petitioned the High Court of Justice today, Tuesday, seeking to compel the head of the Investigations Division, Chief Superintendent Boaz Balt, to summon those involved in the case for questioning in accordance with the prosecution’s request, as part of the investigative follow-ups the prosecution said must be carried out. The petition, submitted through attorney Amit Manor, contains sharp criticism of the way the girls’ investigation in the affair was conducted. According to the document, the girls’ testimonies raise questions about the manner in which the process was handled. It is also alleged that in one case, the investigator asked one of the victims, Taisia, whether she knew people involved in the affair, but did not stop to check with her whether they had been involved in the acts themselves, instead choosing to move immediately to questions about her actions with Golan’s late father, Dani Biton.

The petition exposes serious allegations about events that were not fully investigated. Among other things, it is alleged that one of those involved subjected N. to a “reception test” on the day she was brought into the system, after arriving at the club “Oman 17.” According to the allegation, she was taken to an apartment, and there, after being given alcohol and apparently drugs, she was gang raped.

The petition comes about a month after Channel 13 first reported that Taisia Zolotvsky, who also complained against Golan in the “Friends Game” affair, appealed to the public complaints officer in the Central District of the police, demanding that the investigating unit be ordered to carry out the investigative follow-ups immediately. The appeal came against the backdrop of Chief Superintendent Balt’s instruction to freeze the follow-ups in the case. “The conduct of the investigating unit raises grave concern,” attorney Sufar-Bsergelik wrote. “It is not clear who decided that the public or the media are a party to the police decision-making process, and who authorized the leaking of statements and positions that have no factual or legal basis. The investigating unit must ensure conduct that is substantive, professional and free of any extraneous considerations, investigate only the truth, and certainly not act as though it seeks to shape public consciousness or influence public opinion, let alone share or present its positions to any third party.” She added that “the basic principle is that the role of the investigating unit is to conduct an investigation in order to uncover the truth, and the truth alone. Where the prosecution orders investigative follow-ups to be carried out, it is the duty of the investigating unit to do so immediately, professionally, with clean hands and without blemish, and that is especially expected of it under the circumstances of this case.”