Last update - 00:00 15/07/2007
State attorney to High Court: Ramon's appointment is legal
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
The state attorney's office announced Sunday that the appointment of Haim Ramon to the Knesset is legal, announcing to the High Court that the sexual misconduct of which Ramon was accused was not "indecent".
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had requested the High Court examine the legality of appointing Ramon as deputy prime minister and as a minister without portfolio in the government. The Knesset approved his appointment early this month.
Women's rights organizations had petitioned the High Court against his appointment, after he forced a female soldier to kiss him last July. He was convicted in January and ordered to perform 120 hours of community service and pay compensation of 15,000 shekels to the complainant.
The attorney's office said while Ramon had been convicted of sexual misconduct, he had not been jailed and there was no indecency in his act, therefore his appointment was a "matter of public, not legal debate".