The indictment against former president Moshe Katsav will be served at the earliest next week, after the High Court of Justice acceded to the state prosecutor's request to postpone Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's response to five petitions opposing the plea bargain Katsav signed. Justice Salim Joubran approved a postponement until 1 P.M. Thursday

The petitioners may respond to Mazuz?s position until 10 A.M. Sunday. Afterward a panel of three justices will then hear the matter, apparently early next week.

The Justice Ministry stated in its request for a three-day postponement that it needed the time to examine all the legal arguments presented and to formulate a response.

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Katsav himself responded to the petitions through his attorneys Avigdor Feldman, Tzion Amir and Avraham Lavi. In his response, he attacked the media and the petitioning organizations, saying, 'The street scenes recall the burning at the stake of witches in the Middle Ages, whose fate was decided by the mobs. As if there is no law or justice and in the main square of the town, in the square of the media, Katsav is being burned at the stake and his flesh is being scraped by iron combs, and stones are landing on all parts of his body, and the legal pundits, who are shocked to their souls by every miscarriage of justice, in this case are licking their lips in pleasure.'

'The words rapist, deviant and serial sexual offender hang in the air like bloated blowflies over a corpse. It is surprising that the petitioners even need the High Court when the fire is already burning and all that is left of Mr. Katsav are bleeding remains. And now the petitioners have thought to drag the High Court to the town square as well, and draft it to stone the former president. He is being crucified.'

According to Katsav's lawyers, 'the worst of scoundrels, mass-murderers, those who have committed crimes against humanity, low murderers of children, drug dealers who poison entire populations deserve and have received a fair trial, while Mr. Katsav has been thrown to the dogs who lick up his blood.'

With regard to the legal claims, Katsav's lawyers said that after signing the plea bargain, 'the parties have passed the point of no-return, from the point of view of Katsav's right to a fair trial.'

Shahar Ilan adds: The Knesset Presidium yesterday rejected nine urgent motions in the matter of the Katsav plea-bargain. The chairman of the Likud faction, MK Gideon Sa'ar, appealed the rejection. 'This is without a doubt the main issue on the public agenda. It would be absurd not to discuss it in the Knesset that would show a disconnection from the public's feelings.

Sources in the Knesset said Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik was behind the opposition to the proposals to discuss the plea bargain. The sources said the opposition stemmed from the fact that the issue was pending before the High Court. Itzik's bureau declined to respond yesterday.