Jailed Fundraiser is Vindicated

By COLlive reporter

In time for Shabbos, the Chabad community in Tzfas received the good news about the positive verdict given to R’ Eliyahu Hecht, a resident who was caught carrying drugs.

A judge in Spain ruled on Friday that Hecht was innocent of all charges and is released.

In December 2010, Israeli media reported “Chabad emissary nabbed in Madrid with 4kg of cocaine” identifying the man as Eliyahu Hecht, a father of 6.

Rabbi Zeev Crombi, Director of the Collel Chabad soup kitchen in Tzfas for which Hecht raised funds, stated at the time that his employee was “a good, honest man.”

Hecht said that while visiting Costa Rica, his Jewish host gave him that suitcase to deliver it to a woman in Spain. Hecht inspected it, but the drugs were hidden well, one of his friends said.

Naturally, there were many skeptics. “There must be dozens of westerners jailed in South East Asia and South America because they caught them with drugs and they all say the same: It’s not my suitcase, someone gave it to me!” one reader wrote.

Another pointed out, “Today Chasidim have a reputation for smuggling drugs or laundering drug money on an individual level and on an organizational level.”

But, 4 months later Hecht was released to house arrest and was spending his time davening, learning and helping with Chabad activities in Madrid and Barcelona.

Now, with the court’s verdict, Hecht will have to wait another few days for the prosecution to notify whether it will be appealing the ruling.

Hecht’s family and the Tzfas community are looking forward to his return.

“Eliyahu is a good, honest man who did his job faithfully, and it’s impossible for him to have done what they say he did,” Crombi said.

What is also left to see if whether the Israeli media will report about his innocence with the same fanfare it did with his arrest.

RELATED ARTICLES:

+ Eli Hecht Awaits Verdict
+ Guess Who’s Out of Jail
+ Rubashkin Writes to Prisoner
+ Jailed Lubav Given Kosher Food