Jerusalem – The principal suspect in a case involving alleged drug smuggling has been sent for psychiatric evaluation and may be declared unfit to stand trial.
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The suspect, Ben Zion Miller, is accused of smuggling 90,000 Ecstasy pills from Holland to Japan.
The Tel Aviv District Court ordered the evaluation in response to an appeal against his detention in which his attorney, Yair Nehorai, argued that he suffered from manic depression and might be unfit to stand trial.
Miller and Yisrael Eisenbach, both Satmar Hasidim from Jerusalem, were arrested early last week by the Tel Aviv police on suspicion of involvement in a drug-smuggling ring uncovered last April when Japanese police arrested three Satmar Hasidim at an airport in Shiba, Japan and found 90,000 Ecstasy pills in their suitcases. That prompted an international investigation involving Interpol as well as national police forces, that ultimately resulted in the arrest of Miller and Eisenbach.
The latter was released one day after being arrested, but Miller remained in detention, prompting Nehorai to appeal.
In his appeal, Nehorai said that Miller was on regular medication to treat his manic depression, and the state had even declared him partially disabled on account of this illness. Therefore, he argued, Miller might be unfit to stand trial, and if so, there was no justification for continuing to hold him in detention – not to mention the fact that the state would be wasting its time and money by pursuing the case against him.
Moreover, Nehorai argued, Miller’s family was very concerned that the pressures of being interrogated by the police and the poor conditions in the lock-up would cause his fragile mental condition to deteriorate, provoking a bout of full-fledged depression.
The court agreed that Miller should be sent for psychiatric evaluation in the next few days. However, it decided, he should remain in detention until the results of the evaluation are received.
No pity for them!!!!
I would also be manic depressive if I was responsible for sending 3 innocent people to jail.
Wow, hashem’s wonder a person that suffers from manic depression knows how to smuggle 90,000 Ecstasy pills from Holland to Japan….
One thing is certain, the boys that are in Japanese jails because of him are in danger of going into a full-fledged depression….not him
We know he’s crazy, that’s why we want him behind bars.
who cares about his mental condition. he deserves to get what those three innocent boys are going thru plus more…..and if he was sane enough to plan this whole screwed up mess, then he is sane enough to stand trial.
Why was Eisenbach released?
that evaluation was for a petur from the army
send him to japan they will know how to treat his depression
There goes his chance of finding a shidduch, he’s on pills…! OY VAY!
LOCK HIM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY
I wonder if his depression is a cause of his brother dying 2 years ago bein hazmanin. His brother Zvi learned in Tchebineh yeshiveh in Yerushalayim and went touring bein hazmanim and died from dehydration
The miller family should have more pity on the three bochrim that their family member jailed. Let him rot in jail. Send him to Japan he will feel better very soon.. And send his family along for defending him.
if you knew that 3 boys are loosing their life for what u did to them,you would be on medication to treat manic depression as well !!!!
He should have a few of those ecstasy pills for himself,and not given the whole 90,000 of them away.
Can’t be that this ‘boy’ is behind it all. There are OTHERS behind this one, and that’s who they should go after. This boy is not the mastermind.
If he won’t be locked up who knows how many more pills he will try to smuggle and get innocent people into trouble again!!! No excuses lock him up now!
If the manic depression is a ruse to escape justice then justice will prevail, if his manic depression is real, then it is no contradiction to the fact that he may be a smart guy with a very dark head. and putting him in prison will not help him or anyone else, a mental hospital and heavy medication may be the better option for him, for the world, and for justice.
just for the books: not “all” of them are satmar!!
(just because they are chasidish, don’t means they are “all” satmar)
Who says the three in Japan did not know they were carrying the pills?
You guys are all going nuts for no reason. Nowhere in the article dows it say that he was the mastermind. All it says that he was somehow involved. Maybe his involvement was on the same level as the 3 boys (duped into thinking they are handling antiquities) Why pounce on him before you know the story. Quite frankly he does look too silly (sorry) to be the mastermind. You guys are going on and on while he may a victom (or guilty)just like the 3 other boys in Japan
All of them are innocent victims
amazing how a satmar tuned this story into about himself. this boy shamed the WHOLE jewish communities. not just satmer.
He needs to be punished and let those three boys out. they received punishment they have suffered they learned their lesson.
this piece of crap needs to man up and go to jail.
Isn’t ben Zion Miller A common Bobov name, did they change to satmar?
Manic Depressive is Bi Polar, the guy could have hyper up time & low depression, in the up times they could function better than average human beings, and may need medication to slow them down, in the down times they could vegitate & need medicine to lift them up. This causes complication with their medications, and they may not be capable of administering the right ones & the right time, which causes them to need hospitalization every now & again. This is what I have heard from sufferers & their families, it is unpleasant for both.
It is likely that someone took advantage of the Dr. Jeckle & Mr. Hide personality to do this, there are times when he may feel awfull, even suicidel when he realizes what happened.
More so the case is probably very weak, because Estaceey pills are legal in Holland so no law was broken there, and he didn’t carry them into Japn, so he didn’t break the law there, more ever no money was made that taxes were not paid in Israel, nor did he commit a crime against Israel, but he alegedly did commit a crime against Israeli citizens on foreign soil.
Not to say it isn’t terrible, but this type of case is a very difficult one to pasken in Beis Din shel Mato, let alon an Israeli court.
I think people should not become prosecuter , judge & jury from a media piece & convict him, how ever bad we feel for the 3 in Japan, I am sure he feels a lot worse, he may feel guilty too, even if he is no less guilty than them, and some other guy masterminded it.
Right away everyone is accusing him of all sorts of things! How about a little benefit of the doubt! Maybe he was also duped. Just because he was arrested does not mean he is guilty- you see they’ve released the other one that was arrested!
Its interesting how a lot guys here think that only the master master mind should suffer and all messengers should not, the mastermind could also claim there is a real mastermind behind him, so when will u stop.
In reality, ALL have to pay for bad acts. Those boys claim they did not know it was drugs. (Actually one admitted that he did have an idea). But they did know they are taking something illegal. Not religious articles, it sounds utterly stupid to even repeat that. What could u say in defense of those boys? Really nothing. Of course they are young. But remember they made a bad decision and believe me they will pay dearly for what they did.
Its such a chillul hashem that a yid would frame his brother. How can the family of such a person ask for mercy? Why dont they think of mercy for the poor bochurim in Japan suffering in prison?!
Its not so illegal. Ecstasy pills! whats the big deal? its legal in Holland?
Even if he is manic depressive, that does not mean he is not intelligent. He would have been perfectly capable of perpetrating an act such as this and is also capable of using it as an excuse not to stand trial. If his medication renders him so unfit then how could he have managed to smuggle drugs?! Let him stand trial I say!!!
dont worri g-d dose not let anyone get away with what you do every person gets whay he diserves
#15 , what a horrible case of sinas chinam.
this is a huge chilul Hashem. goyim and not frum yiden don’t care if he is satmar, bobov, litvish or chabad! to them he is orthodox! so quit quabling about such silliness!
it is true that Benzion Miller is a very popular Bobov name. a name which brings respect to the chassidus. The well known Cantor Benzion Miller is also a Bobover. But… not ALL Benzion Millers are Bobovers! this one looks like he was a Satmarer. Very simple.
The story of these bucherim is a very tragic one. It’s not only their own life that has been ruined, but their families are suffering too.
We got to remember, R’ Moshe Leib Sasover did not just try to release innocent prisoners from jail. sometimes these individuals were truly worth their jail time, and even so, the great R’ Moshe Leib tried to get them released. Seem that a yidishe neshama in pain must be helped even when guilty. Thats why we are Jews with rachmunis more than whats called for.
The Tel Aviv District Court is sending the guy who is responsible for these boys sitting in a Japanese jail for psychiatric testing they should through the bastard in jail. If they dont the Tel Aviv court should go themselves for psychiatric testing
As a mother of teenage children myself, the natural feelings of empathy for the boys parents, obviously not reaping nachas at the moment, is my primary emotion at teh moment. closely followed by some questions as to what were three boys doing in holland? come on we all know waht holland is notorious for…surely for the handsome reward they each received for taking antiques to Japan I speculate with tickets also paid for them, they must have had an inkling, some idea that they were taking some of the goodies Holland has to offer. What were they going to do in Japan? Holidaying? visiting relatives? there are too many holes in their story and it is very easy to blame some ‘rosho’ for setting them up, and we know we are allowed to lie in order to save a jew..so i presume some extensions of truth are being manufactured in order to save these souls…we also do not understand the meaning of justice in this tainted world…throw the key away soem of you say, let him rot..not ery benevolent..it sounds like similar comparisons that some sick ppl make in relation to the shoa…oh they were assimilated so they got waht they deserved…no its wrong..more than wrong to request for any jew to be punished in ouor limited minds..and waht we deem to be justice.