Last update - 00:00 22/03/2007
Katsav demands evidence materials in probe against him
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
President Moshe Katsav on Thursday petitioned the High Court of Justice against Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, demanding that the state provide all materials collected in the investigation against him on suspicion of rape and other sexual assault charges.
The materials include legal opinions issued by Jerusalem District Attorney Eli Abrabanel, and head of the criminal department at the State Attorney's Office Efrat Barzilai, who are believed to contain recommendations not to charge Katsav with rape.
The president's attorneys, Avigdor Feldman and Tzion Amir, argue in the petition that Katsav now faces the crucial moment of his legal battle, a hearing before Mazuz, after with the attorney general will make his final decision on whether or not to indict the president.
Katsav, according to his attorneys, is confident he will fend off the charges successfully and will prove his innocence at the hearing. But if the president is indicted after the hearing he would suffer irreparable damage that would force him to resign from his presidential appointment and devote immense mental and financial resources into proving his innocence, "which can be proved at this stage already."
The petition says that "indicting a person is no light matter. It taints the defendant's name, turns his life upside down, and henceforth ceases to function as a person and becomes a defendant whose life is dictated by the charge sheet, which sometimes hampers his work and his standing and hovers over his head like an ominous dark cloud."
Feldman and Amir argued that "when facing a serious indictment with horrendous consequences that may translate into significant jail time, all things unrelated to the charge sheet lose their significance and their meaning, joie de vivre wanes, emotion is benumbed and the person is every inch of a defendant, nothing more."
Katsav's attorneys said also that "The serving of an indictment against the president of the state is no trivial event. This is not to say that the president deserves lenient treatment by prosecution authorities or that the president's blood is redder than that of anyone else's."
The attorneys said also that "the suspect is a private person yet his public role places him at the head of the state; from this fact it emerges that serving an indictment against the suspect would not only cause a deep shock to his personal live, but also to matters concerning society and state at large. The fear of such shock in light of the fact that the suspect is the president should impose on the prosecutors the duty of exercising great precaution when endeavoring to decide if he is to be charged."