The attorney for Haim Ramon said Monday that the trial of the former justice minister for sexual assault should be terminated due to what he called obstruction of justice on the part of investigators.

"There was reason to terminate the trial of Haim Ramon," the attorney, Dan Sheinman, said Monday during final deliberations at Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court.

A verdict in the trial is due to be given January 1, the court ruled at the end of deliberations.

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Sheinman said that information had been concealed on wiretaps in installed in Ramon's office during the investigation.

"The issue of obstruction of justice is so fundamental, that the trial should have been stopped at the completion of the prosecution witnesses' testimony," he said.

He added that if defense attorneys had been in possession of the material currently available to them at the outset of the trial, they would request a hearing before Attorney General Menachem Mazuz before an indictment order was filed, and even to work against Ramon's immunity in the Knesset.

Sheinman also claimed that investigators placed inappropriate pressure on the complainant to file a suit against Ramon.

Sheinman also criticized Miri Golan, head of the police investigations unit, who told the complainant that if she did not speak out, Ramon would be able to file a defamation suit against her.

Earlier Monday, Mazuz slammed the media campaign launched against his decision to indict former Justice Minister Haim Ramon with sexual assault, saying it was causing "heavy societal damage."

Speaking to the Knesset Legislative Committee, Mazuz also said the campaign was "leading us back years, to the place of uncivilized states."

Mazuz said he was concerned that following the campaign, women who had been sexually assaulted would be afraid to complain, at a time when it was necessary for society to rally around these women and encourage them to come out against their attackers.

"The media campaign accompanying this matter is likely to bring us into a regression of years because it has treated this event with forgiveness," Mazuz added.

Mazuz also criticized the Knesset's decision to create a parliamentary panel of inquiry into the matter of eavesdropping, following failings revealed during the investigation of Ramon.

He said it was unclear to him why it was necessary to establish a parliamentary panel of inquiry to look into a matter which the Knesset Legislative Committee has the authority to evaluate.