Retired Supreme Court Justice Mishael Cheshin on Sunday surprised the legal community by coming to the defense of President Moshe Katsav who is under investigation for alleged rape and is expected to be indicted soon.

"The press is treating Katsav unfairly," said Heshin during a conference held in his honor at the Netanya Academic College. "The press is acting as judge and jury. The press has already convicted Katsav. The press shouldn't express its opinion, because it influences the witnesses and contaminates the judicial procedure. A person must not be judged through the media. The President is entitled to a courtroom trial."

Cheshin's criticism also touched on the Media's treatment of the polygraph tests given to witnesses in the sexual harassment trial of former justice minister Haim Ramon.

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"The press acquitted Ramon twice, first by criticizing the actual indictment, and then by acquitting him ahead of the verdict," Cheshin said. "How is it possible that a newspaper permits itself to behave in this manner? This disgraces the courts."

Cheshin also called on the academic world to participate in the struggle against governmental corruption. "I hear attacks voiced against people such as State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss or Yaron Zelekha who speak out against corruption," said Ceshin, "soon they will attack Attorney General Menachem Mazuz."

"The suspicions of corruption create a residue so heavy that it is already hard to breath, there is a feeling of suffocation," Cheshin concluded.