Family of celebrity who killed himself in prison to get NIS 1.2 million

The Israel Prisons Service will pay the family of the late entertainer Dudu Topaz NIS 1.2 million ($342,000) in compensation for his suicide death in prison, Hadashot news reported Wednesday.

The sum is the result of a settlement deal the sides are close to agreeing upon, the TV news outlet formerly known as Channel 2 news reported.

Topaz’s family members had initially demanded over NIS 13 million ($3.7 million) in compensation.

The payment would constitute an admission of responsibility by the Prison Service, at least in part, for Topaz’s death.

The 62-year-old Topaz killed himself while in a holding cell in August 2009. He had been arrested for ordering violent attacks against top television officials.

Gaby Shoshan (L) with comic Dudu Topaz (R) and actor Albert Cohen, in this undated photograph. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

The entertainer, who had once ruled primetime TV but whose star had faded in later years, was reportedly lashing out in anger at those he perceived to have hurt his career.

Topaz admitted his guilt to investigators in June of 2009, days after his arrest. In August, he strangled himself using the power cord of an electric kettle while in his cell at Ramle’s Nitzan Prison.

He did so in the cell’s shower, which was not watched by security cameras.