Outgoing Supreme Court deputy chief justice Hanan Melcer announced on Tuesday afternoon that he has approved a request for a retrial for Roman Zadorov, who was convicted in 2010 and again in 2014 of murdering 14-year-old Tair Rada at the Nofei Golan Middle School in Katzrin.
The murder and its subsequent trials were the subjects of the award winning true-crime Israeli documentary miniseries Shadow of Truth, which harshly criticized the decision to convict Zadorov, claiming that there was evidence to exonerate him.
Melcer noted in his decision that "facts, or evidence, have been discovered that may change the outcome of the trial in favor of the applicant."
He added that "experts have determined that there was no possibility of bleeding from her body about five hours after the murder – and that fact alone justifies the existence of the retrial."
Zadorov's wife, Olga, said in a statement after hearing of the decision that she was "Happy that we have finally arrived at this day and [is] waiting to see Roman being released from prison already."
She thanked her and her husband's supporters and urged people to continue supporting the crowdfunding campaign to fund his legal defense.