Supreme court upholds polygamous cult leader's 30-year term

Justices turn back appeal by polygamist Goel Ratzon, who had up to 32 ‘wives’ and fathered at least 49 children

The Times of Israel

BY STUART WINER 

July 18, 2016

 

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by a notorious cult leader against his 30-year sentence for multiple sex offenses.

Polygamist Goel Ratzon, who presented himself as a spiritual guru and cohabited with 21 women, with whom he fathered dozens of children, had appealed against his sentence and against his convictions.

The court had also ruled that Ratzon, 64 at the time of his conviction in 2014, must pay a total of NIS 330,000 ($85,480) in compensation to five women he sexually assaulted.

After the appeal was rejected, his son Yigal called for his father’s release, and accused the court of being racist.

“Believe me, many men have told me they want to be like my father, and that they envy him,” Yigal Ratzon said, according to Army Radio. “Let’s be honest, there isn’t always justice.”

“When they want to, they acquit, and when they want to, they convict,” he said and suggested the legal system was biased against Jews of eastern ethnic origin, known as Mizrahim. “I regret that I was born Mizrahi; let’s put it that way. There are those who are not Mizrahi and you know things go very well for them,.”

Ratzon was sentenced by the Tel Aviv District Court in October 2014, a month after being convicted of rape, sodomy, sex with a minor, indecent assault and fraud. He was acquitted of holding one of his victims in sexual slavery against her will.

His attorney, Shlomzion Mandelman, said she had hoped the Supreme Court would take into consideration that her client was cleared of a key charge of holding women in slavery and reduce his sentence.

“There was an acquittal for one of the charges and we regret that the sentence was not altered accordingly,” she said, according to the Hebrew-language new site Ynet. “He was acquitted of the main crime of holding under conditions of slavery. Goel is mostly disappointed that the sentence remains as it was. It is a severe punishment.”

Ratzon was discovered — as the result of a TV report and an ensuing police investigation — to be presiding over a harem in Tel Aviv of some 21 women, some of whom had entered into a relationship with him while still teenagers. He was arrested in 2010.

He is believed to have had up to 32 “wives” starting in 1991. He has also fathered at least 49 children, although some media sources estimate more than 60 children were involved in his cult.

Ratzon himself has maintained that he has done nothing wrong, and famously said after his arrest that “petting young girls wasn’t rape.”

Following Ratzon’s arrest, the fate of his former “wives” and offspring became an issue in itself, as the state found that the women and children were unable to support themselves and had been traumatized by their experiences. A 2011 Haaretz report noted that the group collectively had received millions of shekels in aid, but were still in “dire straits.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/supreme-court-upholds-harem-cult-leaders-30-year-term/

 

Head of polygamist cult Ratzon sentenced to 30 years in prison

YONAH JEREMY BOB
Jerusalem Post
October 28, 2014

Prior to his January 2010 arrest, Ratzon had 21 "wives" and over 40 children from those wives who were part of his cult over a period of around 30 years.

Cult-leader Goel Ratzon was sentenced on Tuesday to 30 years in prison on his convictions for sex crimes and financial fraud.

He will serve 25 years from Tuesday's sentencing after already having been in prison for more than four years already while his trial proceeded.

In September, Ratzon was convicted of most of the sex crimes he was accused of and financial fraud, but acquitted of enslaving people by the Tel Aviv District Court regarding several wives and children.

Prior to his January 2010 arrest, Ratzon had 21 "wives" and over 40 children from those wives who were part of his cult over a period of about 30 years.

Ratzon was indicted in the Tel Aviv District Court in February 2010 on a litany of charges, including multiple counts of rape, sodomy, molestation of minors, fraud and the unusual charge of spiritual enslavement.

The decision was handed down by a three judge panel, including Nurit Ahituv, Miriam Diskin and Ra'anan Ben-Yosef - though it was issued several hours late when the Israel Prisons Service bizarrely forgot to bring him to court from his Beersheba prison cell.

The fraud charges against Ratzon described him as defrauding his wives out of their money and manipulating them into serving as his slaves.

While Ratzon's conviction had been likely to lead to significant jail time from which he, at 64, may not emerge while still alive, some of his ex-wives were disturbed that he was acquitted on the spiritual enslavement charge.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog praised the conviction for sex crimes, adding, "this is an important step toward uprooting the phenomenon of exploiting women at its roots" and that the state had sent a message that "the bodies and souls of women are not a free for all."

MK Michal Rozen (Meretz) said too many cults still exist in Israel which abuse women and children and that the Knesset must pass new legislation to fully tackle the phenomenon.

The indictment said Razon’s 21 wives were made to feel they were “required to serve [him] and fulfill all of his demands,” allegedly including sexual acts. It accuses Ratzon of using his standing and the women’s adulation to demand that some of them perform sexual acts on him.

The indictment describes a chilling account of Ratzon’s alleged deeds, including one instance where he allegedly forcibly inserted his fingers into a 17-year-old girl, and when she protested, told her “don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”

The indictment also details Ratzon’s abuse of a girl he allegedly molested almost daily for two years, starting when she was 15.

Soon after his arrest in 2010, Ratzon had said he did not understand why he was under arrest since “stroking” minors did not constitute rape.

He also maintained throughout that all actions he undertook were with the consent of his wives and that they were permitted to leave his cult at anytime.

The indictment repeated threats Ratzon allegedly made to his wives in which he threatened to harm their health or that of their children if they did not obey his wishes.

“I have the power to save and the power to destroy. If you do things that I forbid then I will make sure you and your children are stricken with serious illnesses,” the indictment quotes one witness as saying Ratzon told her.

Ratzon was also accused in the indictment of using different methods to strip the women of their personal identities, including forcing them to tattoo his name and image on their bodies, and requiring them to change their given names to ones of his choosing.

The women were then reportedly required to break off all ties with their families and friends, and were not allowed to have any social life or connections whatsoever outside of the communal house.

They were also allegedly subject to repeated verbal abuse and humiliation by Ratzon, in order to strip them of their self-respect and independence.

Ratzon also allegedly wielded absolute control over the women’s movements, allowing them to leave the house only with his approval and requiring them to report to him all excursions, except to their workplace. He also reportedly forbade them from wearing sunglasses when outside with him, so that he could follow their gaze at all times.

The women were allegedly forced to dress modestly, were not allowed to use television or Internet without his approval, and were forced to attend to Ratzon at all hours of the night whenever he desired.

The indictment also states that Ratzon required the children to line up and kiss his feet every time he entered the house, allegedly to reaffirm his superiority.

Ratzon is accused of demanding the women hand over their money to him, which the indictment alleges brought a number of the women to bankruptcy, including one who ran up a debt of NIS 400,000 funneling money to Ratzon.

The women were allegedly required to hand over their paychecks and their national insurance child allotments into a communal account that Ratzon exercised “absolute” control over.

Ben Hartman contributed to this report.

http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Head-of-polygamist-cult-sentenced-to-30-years-in-prison-380031