Last update - 00:00 21/08/2007
Legal sources: Mazuz will not reconsider Katsav plea bargain
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz will inform the High Court of Justice that he refuses to reconsider his plea bargain with former president Moshe Katsav, who is suspected of sex crimes, legal sources told Haaretz on Monday.
The court issued a show-cause order last month requiring Mazuz to defend the deal, following several petitions demanding harsher terms for Katsav. The former president had agreed to plead guilty to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness as part of a plea bargain that struck rape charges from the indictment and gave him a suspended sentence only.
The sources said that Mazuz will submit his response early next month, as will Katsav's attorneys. After the court receives both briefs, the petitioners will be given opportunity to respond to them. The court will then review the material before deciding whether to allow the bargain.
In issuing the show-cause order, the court expressed reservations about the plea agreement. Among other things, the panel of five justices asked Mazuz to explain why the complainants were not given a hearing; why the indictment included none of Katsav's alleged offenses against A., who worked for him in the President's Residence; and why Katsav's time in office was not deducted from the statute of limitations.
Evidence from several complainants was excluded because the statute of limitations had expired, but the petitioners argued that since a sitting president cannot be indicted, the clock should have stopped the moment he took office.
If it had, the indictment could have included those complainants as well.
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, who headed the panel that heard the petitions, also questioned the prosecution's decision not to charge Katsav with consensual sexual relations involving an abuse of power.
Beinisch said the very existence of a sexual relationship between Katsav and A. is evidence of such an abuse, as she was his employee at the time.
The legal sources said that Mazuz and State Prosecutor Eran Shendar are currently "examining new ideas" to persuade the High Court not to intervene in the plea bargain.