Last update - 00:00 09/09/2007
Attorneys: Katsav would have nixed deal with moral turpitude charge
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The attorneys of former president Moshe Katsav told the High Court of Justice on Sunday that if Attorney General Menachem Mazuz had insisted on labeling Katsav's offenses crimes of moral turpitude, the former president would have refused to sign the plea bargain agreement he reached with the state.
The statement came in the framework of High Court hearings on six petitions against the plea bargain struck in late June. The former president agreed to plead guilty to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness, as part of a deal that struck rape charges from an indictment against him and gave him a suspended sentence only.
The court issued a show-cause order last month requiring Mazuz to defend the deal, following the petitions demanding harsher terms for Katsav.
The State Prosecutor's Office announced on Thursday that it would ask the magistrate's court trying Katsav to attach moral turpitude to the crimes for which he will be convicted under the plea agreement.
The announcement follows a decision made by the Knesset Finance Committee recently stating that a president or former president convicted of moral turpitude would be denied the financial benefits such an official normally receives from the state.
The State Prosecutor's Office argued that at the time that the plea bargain with Katsav was signed, there was no need to deal with the issue of moral turpitude because at that time the issue was purely theoretical, as it had no bearing on Katsav's financial privileges.
Referring to negotiations conducted by the sides before the plea deal was signed, Katsav's lawyers - Avigdor Feldman, Avraham Lavi and Zion Amir - wrote to the High Court on Sunday that when they first presented an outline of the plea bargain to Katsav they "faced anger, disappointment and total refusal." However, after "efforts at persuasion" on their part and on the part of others, Katsav allowed negotiations to go ahead.
During the discussions on the plea deal, they wrote, Mazuz hardened his stance by insisting on including an additional charge of sexual harassment, separate from an existing charge pertaining to A. from the Tourism Ministry. Mazuz also demanded that obstruction of justice be included in the deal, and in the final plea bargain, Katsav is charged with harassing a witness.
Against the advice of his attorneys, Katsav called the negotiations to a halt in protest of the additional charges. However, he eventually succumbed to pressure exerted by his attorneys and family, they said.
The attorneys also expressed faith that their client's name would be eventually cleared, saying they "agreed to the plea bargain in order to keep him [Katsav] from a long trial that would be carried out amidst an inflamed public atmosphere liable to influence the courts."