Court Allows New Witnesses against Rabbi Elon

By Jeremy Sharon
Jerusalem Post
May 15, 2012

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=269971

Ariel Jerozolimski

State will use testimony of new witnesses to support claims of two plaintiffs against Elon.

The Jerusalem District Court accepted the state attorney's request to add five new witnesses to the trial of Rabbi Mordechai "Moti" Elon, who is accused of indecent assault against two minors.

The testimony of the new witnesses will be used to support the claims of the two plaintiffs against Elon.

Judge Haim Liran said that some of the testimonies of the new witnesses were significant and their inclusion in the trial is therefore justified.

Elon's defense team opposed the introduction of the new witnesses as an "attempt to breathe life into the corpse of an already dead indictment which anyway lacked substance."

His attorneys also alleged that the prosecutors' new material was first leaked to the press before being given to the defense team and accused the prosecution of trying to conduct the trial through the media.

The trial was delayed for a month to allow the defense team to examine the new evidence.

The new testimonies relate mostly to Elon's custom of hugging his students when he was dean of the renowned national-religious institute Yeshivat Hakotel in Jerusalem.

The prosecution said that it does not intend to bring any additional charges against Elon.

Elon, formerly a leading figure in the national-religious community, has been charged with five counts of indecent assault and indecent assault by force against two minors.

The rabbi denies the allegations against him and has said that nothing he did had any sexual motivation whatsoever.