Last update - 00:00 06/02/2007
Katsav's new attorney: Draft indictment 'all foolishness'
By Yuval Yoaz , Haaretz Correspondent
Lawyer Avigdor Feldman, who replaced Professor David Libai and joins attorney Zion Amir on the defense team for President Moshe Katsav, told Haaretz Monday that the draft indictment against his client was "all foolishness."
Feldman refused to discuss the content of the document. "The question is not what the indictment contains, but what the evidence says," he said.
An associate of Katsav said Monday he was "surprised at the seriousness of the charges," and that his surprise stemmed both from what the associates knew of the facts and the issues they thought the indictment would include. They were surprised as the indictment was stronger than the opinions of senior figures in the State Prosecutor's Office who had been involved in the case.
With regard to the "first A.," who accused the president of unlawful sexual intercourse and misuse of authority, indecent acts and sexual harassment, an associate of Katsav said, "It is inconceivable that A. describes brutal rape, which the police and the State Prosecutor's Office do not believe, but they believe other parts of her testimony." He added: "That says something about this case."
With regard to the "Second A.," who worked in the Tourism Ministry from 1998 to 1999, "the indictment indicates that she came to work in the minister's bureau a month before she is raped by the president. Then the president rapes her again, according to her testimony very brutally. And after that, she continues to work in Katsav's bureau for another 11 months, and there is nothing sexual between her and the president. So clearly it surprised us that the indictment contained these details," said Katsav's associates.
The text of the aggressive speech President Moshe Katsav gave two weeks ago was taken off the Web site of the President's Residence yesterday. This followed the release of a letter that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz wrote to MK Haim Oron (Meretz), who asked about removing the speech. The President's Residence stated the text had been removed "to prevent gossip and a campaign of persecution in this matter as well."
Mazuz expressed displeasure with the decision of the President's Residence staff to post the speech, which Katsav gave the day after Mazuz announced his intention to indict the president on charges of sexual misconduct. In the speech, Katsav accused the media, the police and the State Prosecutor's Office of working together against him.
"After the president announced his incapacity, it is particularly important that the President's Residence staff and Residence property not serve in Katsav's private struggle. This obligation is now incumbent on the the workers at the President's Residence, first and foremost Residence director-general, Moshe Goral."
Mazuz's bureau wrote Oron "our position is as yours, although the attorney general is not the authority to give an order in this matter."