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When Russian authorities opened a criminal case against Boris Meerson and Masha Nemzer, both were in Israel, beyond the reach of prosecutors. The alleged victims looked for other means to bring their abusers to justice.
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Creators & Guests
What is The Adults in the Room?
Nastya Krasilnikova is an investigative journalist who covers sexual violence against women and children. A year and a half ago, former students associated with one of Russia’s most prestigious schools approached her with allegations of serial abuse by teachers. Her investigation has uncovered a network of harm and complicity in a tight-knit circle of Russian intelligentsia.
The story spans many years and multiple countries. It asks what happens when a community refuses to atone for the violence of its leaders. As Russia wages a senseless war in Ukraine, that question couldn’t be more pressing.
For additional materials visit our website: https://adultsintheroom.libolibo.me/
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This is a podcast by Libo/Libo
This episode contains descriptions of sexual and emotional abuse. Please take care while listening. My grandfather was Jewish, so I always knew that I had a right to Israeli citizenship. But I only obtained that citizenship in 2022. Boris Meerson is also part Jewish, and he has had his Israeli citizenship for many years now.
Nastya:Boris visited Israel frequently when he was a teacher at School 57. His mother lived here, so he would visit her, and sometimes he would bring his students along with him. From Libo Libo, you're listening to The Adults in the Room. My name is Nastya Krasilnikova. This is Episode 6: The Survivor's Career.
Revekka:The New Year celebration, we got the tickets to Israel. Like, I got the tickets and my teacher got the tickets. And supposedly, we were going separately, but we also got the tickets on the same dates, on the same flight. And Meerson told me to put on a show of, like, being surprised that we got the same tickets.
Nastya:Revekka Gershovich was still a school girl in 2015 when she came to Israel with Boris.
Revekka:We flew there, and my parents were staying also in Israel at that point with our friends. We flew to Israel, and he rented a, hotel room in Tel Aviv. And, again, like, we had sex there. My parents were staying at their friend's and there was, like, really no space to stay with them. And I asked Meerson if I could, like, go to his mom and stay with him there.
Revekka:And then, like, I went to his mom and, yeah, so we had sex there and then he would show me, you know, excavation sites and, like, give me tour guides and then we would again have sex. And I felt, like, very bad for his mom. His mom was very lonely and they had really bad relationship. I think that's why he allowed me to come because I think he didn't wanna be with his mom alone anymore. But, basically, his mom, like, tried to care for him and feed him, et cetera, and he would just, like, yell at her and tell her that, you know, he doesn't need anything.
Revekka:I kind of was nice to her, and she liked it. And I felt like really, really, really bad for her. I felt like he was so cruel to her. She died that year, and I discovered at some point that when she was dying, she brought along my classmate and the fucked her there as I later discovered from the classmate.
Nastya:That classmate was Rose. At School 57, she had sensed that she was one of Meerson's favorite students.
Rose:He never concealed that that he had favorites. He didn't call them his favorites or anything else, but it was obvious that there were, like, 4 girls in our class who are, like, the smartest ones, and I was one of those.
Nastya:Did you feel, exceptional because of this?
Rose:Of course. It felt... it felt perfect because, my parents convinced me that I'm good for nothing. And then finally, for the first time in my life, I'm good at something. And there is this amazing person who is, like, not like any other adult you know, that is convincing you that you are very good.
Rose:Given her difficult relationship with her parents, Rose sought validation from her teacher. And more than that, she wanted his protection.
Rose:So I had a classmate who was pestering me a lot of the times, because he had this silly goal of having sex with every girl in the class or something like this. And once my parents found out that this boy was pestering me, their reaction was 'what kind of loose woman you are, what kind of reputation you have among your classmates that a boy can make such propositions to you'.
Rose:Then I started laughing hysterically and somehow it set them off and I got really badly beaten. My parents were just beating me anyways and that time they bat me so badly I had marks on my neck. I had black or brown marks all over from them trying to choke me, and I had black eyes under both of my eyes.
Rose:And my parents didn't want me to go to school so that nobody sees that. And then after a week, I told them I need to go to school, and my mom put a lot of foundation on my face and on my neck to cover that up and made me wear a scarf.
Nastya:The day Rose returned to school, she talked to Boris Meerson at his desk.
Rose:And I was just telling him something really, like, innocent, something really mundane. But I wanted him to look at my neck and I wanted him to look at my face and to realize that something is wrong. I wanted him to notice and I wanted him to do something. He never noticed. He never did anything, and I just came to terms that I'm living with those crazy people that might murder me at any time.
Rose:When I finished my last year at school, I felt, like, completely lost, and I felt like it's an end of an era. And also, my parents were going through, like, a very painful stage of their divorce. They were driving me crazy at this moment. So I write to him. It was, I think, in maybe in May or maybe in June.
Rose:He was looking after his, mother who was dying at the moment, and he invited me to visit him. And that's how it started.
Nastya:How did he explain, actually, this kind of invitation? It doesn't sound like some circumstances you would love to go to a foreign country, to a guy who is your teacher at the time when his mother is dying.
Rose:That sounds crazy. I know this whole story sounds crazy. But it actually was because my parents are even crazier than I described them. The thing is that I knew that he was liking me at the moment. Or at least I had a suspicion, but I didn't have it confirmed.
Rose:I caught his, you know, him looking at me at certain ways sometimes. He was complimenting me, like, in this silly conversation that I had with him, telling him that my parents are driving me crazy and I wanna get away. I was like... Нe told me that I have something flirty in a sense, like, oh, you have so many positive qualities. And obviously, he meant it in a sexual way. To answer your question directly: I was like, 'What are we going to do?
Rose:Like, you know, why are you inviting me?' And he was like, 'we are going to listen to 16th century lute music at my place'. And I am like, 'great'. And I realized that many years later, when I was accidentally... when I was watching this movie that is a Russian comedy by Квартет И, 'What Do Men Talk Of', that it was a joke from there.
from the film:Ну, когда я ей говорю: «Поехали ко мне», а она мне: «Зачем?»...И я говорю: «Поехали ко мне, у меня дома прекрасная коллекция лютневой музыки шестнадцатого века».
Rose:It is a joke that a guy who wants a lady to have sex with him tells her, like, oh, then I tell her, let's go to my place.
Rose:And she's like, what are we gonna do there? And I was like, listen to 16th century lute music, haha. But, yeah, at that moment, I think I developed a massive crush on him, and I didn't quite believe 100% until I saw it with my own eyes that he was into me, but he was. And so I decided to go because I felt like it would be a good alternative to leaving with my parents the whole summer. I also felt, and this will sound crazy as well, but bear in mind that I was 17 years old at the moment. I literally thought that I am, like, one of the ugliest people in the world and that nobody will ever have sex with me, and this is my only chance.
Nastya:Rose was not wrong about Boris being interested in her. Here is Alice, another classmate of Revekka and Rose. In Episode 4, she told us that Boris abused her throughout her 11th grade.
Alice:Meerson usually, after started to have sex with one person, he tried to make this person kind of person who can invite other persons to this process, make this, like, cruel chain of violence. And he said, like, several times that I can invite maybe my friends, et cetera, et cetera.
Nastya:Several survivors told me about Boris trying to persuade them to groom their friends into a sexual relationship with him. This is how Alice remembers her prom.
Alice:So during prom, I met with Meerson, and he was like, 'I'm kinda interested in one person from your class. I'm interested like in rows. Should we do something with this person?' As I said, like, Meerson was for me, like, crush. And, of course, I had kind of hope that, you know, I was not so blind.
Alice:I was sure that, like, he did the same with several students from my class, not only with me. But, of course, it was kinda like idea in my mind that, 'okay, I'm not, like, very special, but maybe somehow he perceived me as person, not as just like',
Nastya:A sex toy?
Alice:Yeah. Exactly. You know, like, sex toy also are ready to some intellectual conversations. Yeah. It was kind of hope that maybe not. Maybe somehow he perceived me as a person. Of course, no.
Alice:Meerson went to Israel because his mom was very ill. We rested in Moscow because we have to pass exams for university. We did it. And afterwards, Meerson said to me that, 'oh, you can arrive to Israel. Like, my mom is in the hospital, the flat is empty'. I arrived in Israel some days before Rose.
Alice:I spent some days in Yokneam where Meerson lived and lives. He, made this, like, sexual violence with me again and again and again. So nothing special.
Nastya:I asked Rose why her parents let her go to Israel. She explained that her parents adored Alice and trusted her. And Rose told them that...
Rose:We are going to Israel for a trip and we are going to visit, Boris Markovich because he is our teacher and we love him so much, because he's so smart and amazing. And my parents, like, had like, also, my mother especially, I think she also, like, had a lot of respect for Meerson, and this is why she let us go. Then we told my parents that we are just going to visit him one day, and then we're going to live at our hotel the rest of the time, which wasn't true. And, then calm down, and then they let me go.
Nastya:Alice and Rose got together in Jerusalem.
Rose:We spent a night there with each other. It was my first ever sexual experience.
Alice:I feel that it's my guilt. I feel that, anyhow, like, she was not, like, against this interaction and somehow it was we both kind of wanted. But, of course, it wasn't something we wanted. It was something that we feel, felt, what we supposed to do, you know, to be cool, to stay in all this discourse, which kinda Meerson constructed. So yeah. But still, of course, I feel there's a guilt.
Rose:And then we decamp on a bus to go to Yokneam, where Mersson lives to this day as far as I know. And that very day when I arrived to Israel, his mother dies. And the I feel like it's my life is a joke, you know? We're coming to him and his mother dies. And I thought that, you know, everything is canceled because, I mean, your mother doesn't die any day. Right? But, no, he was acting, like, completely normal, and it didn't even feel like anything had happened when we arrived to see him.
Alice:His mother died, but it wasn't for him the problem. He was very sticky on his plans. So we arrived to like the city of Yokneam where everything like continued. I mean that person had sexual violence with me and Rose. It happened in his house, in some areas around his house.
Rose:We had sex many times. three of us, then the two of us, then the two of them, and, yeah, there was a lot of it. And we were doing that for 3 days or 4 days. I don't really remember this much. And then I left, and I went back to Moscow.
Rose:And, also, when I was leaving, Meerson asked me to delete all the conversations messages I ever had with him. That's what I did.
Nastya:As far as I remember, your parents, found out about you having sex with him. Can you tell me more about it?
Rose:They found out because he kept on texting me and I kept on texting him after I came from Israel. And we were meeting. We were having sex in hotels in Moscow, which, by the way, he was paying for. At one point, I forgot to lock my iPad and my parents found my conversations with him, which I didn't delete. And I think they became furious with me because then I was their property spoiled.
Rose:You know what I mean? Because they couldn't market me as well as they would like to in the bridal market or whatever because they wanted me to get married to, like, a good boy for a good family and whatever not.
Nastya:And you had to be a virgin for for getting married?
Rose:Absolutely. Absolutely. So what they did is they called him on the very day they found out, and they threatened to tell the police. I know that he said something in the line: 'I don't know what you're talking about.
Rose:That never happened. I never did anything to your daughter. Leave me alone'.
Nastya:So Rose's parents left him alone.
Alice:One day, I blocked Meerson everywhere, but also I had the conversation with him. The conversation was like I really wanted him to understand what he did. So I called him, and I was like, 'Okay, do you have any idea of understanding what you did?' That it wasn't, like, okay, and everybody is so damaged'.
Alice:And, like, any sign of, like, 'Yes, I started to understand my guilt'. Of course, it didn't happen. It was one thing he said was, like, 'Oh, but please don't write on Facebook'. And I was like ha-ha. Yeah. And afterwards, I blocked him every everywhere.
Nastya:Both Rose and Alice were 17 when they spent time with Boris in Israel. The age of consent in Israel is 16. But it's 18 if the adult is in a position of trust over the minor. A teacher, for example, cannot have a sexual relationship with a 16 or 17 year old student in their care. Boris lives in Yokneam Illit.
Nastya:It is a small town in the north of Israel, not far from the city of Haifa. In the summer of 2016, when the scandal happened, Boris Meerson was in his late mother's apartment with Masha Nemser. Yegor and Revekka came forward with their stories around this time.
Yegor:We're very much on purpose, chose the end of July as the date of visiting the school board because we knew that Boris was in Israel. We did not know what will happen, of course, but first of all, we thought that's better for my and Rivka's safety, which was true. And secondly, we just thought, you don't know what's going to happen. It's good he's already there. Subconsciously, of course, what we meant was that if things get out of control, he will not be brought to the Russian jail.
Nastya:That desire to avoid responsibility for putting a man in a Russian jail is something I heard a lot during my investigation. I think it's a very Intelligentsia feeling to have. But in the years since, Yegor's and Revekka's minds have changed. More on that later in the podcast. That September, Russian authorities started a criminal case against Boris and Masha. The pair stayed in Israel.
Yegor:Boris was placed on the federal wanted list in January 2017, and I think 5 days later, he was ordered to be placed on international wanted list specifically in Israel and all other states that are part of the Interpol . And whether that actually happened remains unclear. And, later in January, he was detained in absentia by court in Moscow, and he lost his appeal in February.
Nastya:As far as I'm aware, Boris hasn't been back to Russia since.
Michael Sfard:Well, so in Israel, we have a system that protects Israeli residents from being prosecuted outside Israel.
Nastya:This is Michael Sfard, an Israeli lawyer and an expert in international human rights law.
Michael Sfard:And, of course, Israelis have a right to remain in their country unless they go through a legal process of extradition. So the fact that someone is on the Interpol wanted list is not enough for the Israeli authorities to hand him over to the authorities of a different country. The Israeli law enforcement authorities, meaning the attorney general, the prosecution, and the police, can, initiate a procedure for extraditing someone who's in Israel. And there are two types of extradition. One is an extradition to a country that has, a general treaty with Israel.
Michael Sfard:As far as I know, Israel does not have an extradition treaty with the Russian Federation. If there is none, then an ad hoc treaty has to be signed that deals with a specific extradition. And the Israeli court will have to examine many, many issues to make sure the extradition meets many criterias and is not abused for, for example, political purposes.
Nastya:The state of Israel protects its citizens from being persecuted for political reasons in their homeland. And Boris surely knew that when 2 years after his forced relocation to Israel, he got a call from a local journalist. That journalist, Bar Shem-Ur, got a tip that an alleged sex offender from Russia might be trying to resume his teaching career in Israel. Bar later told Yegor and Revkka that Boris played the dissident card talking to him. Apparently, Boris told Bar that stories about his alleged abuse in Russia were a part of a political campaign against him.
Nastya:I find this amusing. Russia under Putin is famous for repressions against people who oppose the regime. Journalists, politicians, and public figures get years of jail time for criticizing Russia's government. But as far as I know, Boris was none of those things. As far as we know, there was no official request from Russian law enforcement to Israeli law enforcement to extradite Boris Meerson.
Nastya:He was detained in absentia by the Russian court, and he still lives in Israel as a free man. Yegor Osipov was never okay with it. Can you tell me everything that you tried to do?
Yegor:You mean in Israel. Right?
Nastya:Yeah. Exactly.
Yegor:So in December 2019, I was in Israel, and I happened to speak to Michal Rozin, who at different times was the member of Knesset from the Meretz party, but I think no longer member of the Knesset at the time when I spoke to her. And I told her my story. I said, there is this man. He's detained and absentee in Russia. This was a big case of sexual abuse, back in Moscow, and he lives freely in Yokneam.
Yegor:What can be done? Well, she said that basically not much. If there were no crimes against me in Israel, then I can't report. But otherwise, there's a 20 year statute of limitation which begins on the 18th birthday. And you can use as proof diary entries, messages, recollections to friends, psychotherapist testimonies, et cetera.
Yegor:Then in the beginning of July 2020, Boris was probably having a good time. He forgot that he should keep a low profile, and he started a YouTube channel, on history in Russian language, which is a perfect trap for dragging more children into abuse. And we must understand that Yokneam Illit has a significant share rate of Russian speaking population, including probably children who have just migrated with their parents and speak no Hebrew. And this was the moment when I thought, well, okay, something must be done. Right?
Yegor:This person remains obviously a threat because we know from research that child abusers do not stop.
Nastya:So Yegor managed to shut down Boris' Facebook account and made sure the site would ban all the new ones. He also got in touch with another journalist, but she didn't get back. Michal Rozin referred Yegor to the Association of Rape Crisis Centers of Israel, which eventually passed him to the Haifa Rape Crisis Center. When Yegor stopped hearing back, Revekka Gershovich also got in touch to tell her story.
Yegor:That email is quite painful to read, even when you're unfortunately familiar with abuse. And there was still silence. I mean, it felt like we were sending emails into the void.
Nastya:Eventually, the center said they'd keep looking into it, but they weren't sure what could be done since Yegor and Revekka weren't in Israel.
Yegor:Well, there was silence and I lost my patients. And I think late March, I wrote an angry email to them. And this was remarkable. Throughout my survivor's career, I had quite some experience with NGOs, and I totally understand that people can be busy. But then I would expect an answer, say, 'Look, unfortunately, we can't help you.
Yegor:We are overwhelmed'. But this was beyond my understanding.
Nastya:After a year and a half of trying to get the attention of the Israeli government, Yegor was struck by an idea.
Yegor:I realized that I was probably asking the wrong thing. Right? The question regarding me was very broad. Was not even about me. Right?
Yegor:It was about what can be done to bring the attention to this man who we know is detained in another country. This legally speaking, this is a very vague thing. So then I realized I should be asking something else.
Nastya:At some point, Boris would have made Aliyah, meaning emigrated to Israel.
Yegor:So Boris did his Aliyah, I assume, in 2014 or 15. I do not know what exactly he was asked during the consular procedure, but in the past, the person applying for aliyah had to sign a paper in which he would, among other things, say that he did not commit a criminal offence. If Boris was asked to sign such a statement, then he lied because in my case, it was what's called the strict liability offence. I was under 16, which is below the age of consent, and your menswear, your your guilty mind, is irrelevant because he knew certainly, as my teacher, that I was 15. And importantly, we're not talking about conviction for criminal offence, but about criminal offence itself.
Yegor:So there is some case law in Israel, like in 1962, Bagatz, the Supreme Court, heard a case of Gold versus Ministry of Interior, which, among other things, decided that there was no requirement that the criminal policy be proven specifically through conviction. So if Boris was asked whether he committed criminal offence, then he lied, and his citizenship, must be revoked. Right? The Minister of Interior should apply to the Court of Administrative Affairs, and this would be the right thing to do also in light of the law of return, right, which restricts the immigration of criminals for the purpose of protecting the Israeli public. So after I realized this, in April 2021, I contacted several criminal attorneys.
Yegor:I went on the US Embassy to Israel website and looked for the list of English speaking attorneys practicing criminal law, and I wrote to all of them. And, 2 responded. One was Leora Bechor. She was quite compassionate, but such did not handle such cases and, she doesn't know who to refer me to, which I think is unfortunately telling. As she told me that one can actually file a report with the police from abroad, which is true if you have a תעודת זהות, if you have an Israeli national ID, and you have an Israeli national ID number.
Yegor:If you don't, you cannot do this. So what I did, I filled out a usual police online form. So the police told me, well, you should come to Israel or you can go to the nearest police station at your place of residence and file a complaint there, which, you know, is a dead end for any investigation. Then the second lawyer who responded to me was Michael Sfard.
Nastya:That's the same Michael Sfard we heard from earlier in the episode.
Yegor:Quite, famous Israeli human rights lawyer and it also came down to two things, that those who are abused should file a complaint in Israel and that the nationality question is pretty hard. Well, it might be hard, but but it is still the right thing to do. Around the time in my journalistic capacity, I sent emails to the press offices of Israeli embassies in The Hague, which is where I lived in Moscow, and to the concert in Los Angeles, which is where Rivka lived, and to the representative of Ministry of National Security at the Moscow embassy as well. I wrote that I became aware that a sex offender of minors is attempting to resume educational activities, but I never got a response. I also, at some point in 2021, I contacted the city hall of Yokneam. I could not find that email, so I assume it was via a form on their website.
Yegor:And in December 2021, I also sent a query to the head of the Special Committee for the Rights of Child in Knesset, which was Ayman Odeh. I also contacted Michal Rozin once again. I received no response for both. Then came 2022, and Russia invaded Ukraine February 24th, and I set all this Israeli journey aside.
Nastya:Yegor later made one last attempt, contacting a human rights activist, then a journalist, then another journalist. No one reacted.
Yegor:But despite me following up, she didn't come back. So I decided to take another pause, and then this story came up. You appeared.
Nastya:I've never met a survivor of sexual abuse who tried so hard to stop the alleged perpetrator from violating others. I find it remarkable. Revekka and Sara, who by 2016 were living in the US, were also trying to stop an alleged sex offender, Mark Gondelman. More on the next episode. The Adults in the Room is produced by Libo Libo Studio.
Nastya:All episodes are out now, so you can play the next one right away. This podcast has a website where you can find additional visual materials collected throughout our investigation and feedback contacts. The link is in the description box. This show is hosted, reported, and written by me, Nastya Krasilnikova. A huge thank you to my colleagues, researcher and fact checker, Vica Lobanova.
Nastya:Producers and editors, Nastya Medvedeva, Sam Colbert, and Dasha Cherkudinova. Composer and sound designer, Ildar Fattakhov. And the head of Libo Libo, Lika Kremer. Legal support provided by Michael Sfard and Alon Sapir from Michael Sfard Law Office, and Sergey Markov, managing partner of the law firm Markov and Mandaminov. Thank you for listening