Last update - 00:00 20/07/2007
Friedmann blasts High Court for criticizing Katsav plea deal
By Arnon Ben Yair, Haaretz Correspondent
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann blasted the High Court of Justice on Thursday for criticizing the plea bargain the attorney general struck with former president Moshe Katsav. He also questioned the court's authority to contest the A-G's decisions regarding indictments.
"It's questionable whether the debate in the High Court is in keeping with the need to defend the accused," Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann said on Channel 1's news program.
Friedman asked how a Magistrate's Court could debate a case without being influenced by the comments from the bench of the higher instance.
If the High Court accepts the petitions against the plea bargain, Katsav's indictment would be presented to the Magistrate's or District Court. If the High Court rejects the petitions and approves the plea bargain, it will have to be presented to the Magistrate's Court, which may either accept it or reject it. If it accepts the deal, it could impose a harsher penalty on Katsav or rule that his offenses involve moral turpitude.
"I think the High Court should consider carefully the implications of its statements on the defendant's rights," Friedman said.
In an interview with "London and Kirschenbaum" on Channel 10 Friedmann implied that the High Court infringed on the rules of fair trial in its criticism of the plea bargain earlier this week.
"When the High Court expresses statements in a certain way, it must take into consideration how they are accepted. Is the Magistrate's Court really completely free after hearing those statements?" Friedmann asked.
When the minister was asked if his opinion would have been any different had Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch not been conducting the debate, Friedmann said, "I'm talking about the High Court in general."
The Justice Ministry this week denied allegations that Beinisch's criticism of the plea bargain stemmed from any personal rivalry between herself and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz.
Now Friedmann has placed himself beside Mazuz and opposed to Beinisch, his old rival.
A few years ago Beinisch foiled the appointment of Professor Nili Cohen, Friedmann's close associate, as a Supreme Court justice. Since then the two have been at loggerheads. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's appointment of Friedmann as justice minister was widely believed to have been a bid to weaken the Supreme Court's status.
Friedmann has been challenging the Supreme Court and Beinisch since he took office and has initiated proposals weakening the justices. He also blasted the attorney general's decision to indict minister Haim Ramon for an indecent act.