Deputy State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan said Sunday that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz may have erred in the manner in which he announced that he was considering rape charges against then-president Moshe Katsav.

"It should have been explained better that this was an interim stage, dependent on a hearing, and not a final decision," Nitzan told Channel 1 television, saying the manner in which things were presented created expectations that were too high.

Nitzan stressed that the plea bargain reached with Katsav, according to which the rape charges were dropped from the indictment and the former president is to receive to a suspended sentence, was not a mistake.

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"It would mean the end of the prosecution if it were to decide on filing charges based on the number of people who participate in one rally or another," he said.

The High Court of Justice agreed Sunday to delay a hearing on the plea bargain that saw rape charges dropped from an indictment against former president Moshe Katsav for sex crimes, in order to hear a legal challenge to the deal.

The hearing will be postponed by at least 24 hours.

The court gave Attorney General Menachem Mazuz until Monday afternoon to respond to two petitions filed by women's rights groups, asking the court to issue an interim order to stop the approval process of the plea bargain that ensured Katsav would not go to prison for a series of sex offenses.

"The extreme lack of reasonableness in [Attorney General Menachem] Mazuz's decision," the petition states, "stems from the fact that he backtracked on his original intention to indict the president with more serious accusations, including rape and serious indecent acts."

The petitions also stated that the decision was made "without the Attorney General receiving new evidence that could destroy the evidentiary basis that led him shortly beforehand to decide to issue the indictment, including very serious charges."

The petitions were submitted by the Movement for Quality Government; the Israel Women's Network; Itach, a women's social action association; and the umbrella organization The Women's Coalition.

A third petition was submitted to the High Court by one of the main complainants in the case, A., whose rape accusations were deleted from Katsav's indictment. In her petition, A. seeks to include the crimes allegedly committed against her in the future indictment.