Beinisch: Katsav plea bargain's "feat" is lack of reference to sex crime - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Tue., October 30, 2007 Cheshvan 18, 5768

Israel Time: 00:32 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Print Edition

Diplomacy

Defense

Arts & Leisure

Real Estate

Jewish World

National

Advertising

Magazine

Week's End

Business

Opinion

Rosner's Domain

Anglo File

Books

Travel

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Last update - 21:17 30/10/2007

Beinisch: Katsav plea bargain's "feat" is lack of reference to sex crime

By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent

The High Court Chief Justice Dorit Beinisch said on Tuesday in an implied criticism of former president Moshe Katsav's plea bargain, that "the amended indictment has no sexual reference, which is its biggest achievement."

She said that "Katsav's attorney, Avigdor Feldman, said that the former president would admit he hugged the complainant [known as "A."] and touched her leg. This is not a downright sexual situation."

Beinisch spoke during a hearing on six requests to quash the plea bargain, reached last June with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, under which Katsav agreed to plead guilty to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness - but not the rape that a former employee accused him of committing.

	Advertisement

Mazuz wrote that allegations made by the complainant were undermined by contradictions in her story and by evidence that she may have been motivated by "obsessive jealousy" of a fellow employee, creating a reasonable doubt that the former president was innocent and should not be charged with rape.

Beinisch also insinuated during Tuesday's hearing that the state prosecution failed to carry out its legal duty to set up a final indictment before the hearing. Only when the prosecution's position is changed significantly following a hearing, she said, a revised indictment can be written up.

Justice Ayala Procaccia asked the prosecution attorney, Shai Nitzan, whether Katsav had enjoyed a higher evidential threshold than the common standard, which is "a balance of probability" that would lead to conviction. Nitzan declined her allegations, saying that "the president and the ordinary citizen are equal before the law."

Beinisch said that the current version of the indictment does not contain "claims of touching the complainant's private parts, only her knee." Nitzan replied that the prosecution believes that "the core of the allegations is not the rape itself but the fact that the complainant was persistently harassed. The final version does not include rape allegations. A plea bargain requires the consent of two parties."

At the outset of the Tuesday hearing, Beinish, speaking for the court, rejected a request by Katsav's attorneys to lift a gag order over evidence in the case.

Petitioners have condemned as "extremely unreasonable" the prosecution's statements that it lacked detailed testimony from 10 complainants whose accusations are said to support the contention that Katsav is a serial sex offender.

The petitioners have also argued that the complainants were not given a chance for a fair hearing over the terms of the bargain and that the former president received preferential treatment. They have furher accused Katsav of violating the plea bargain, citing comments by the former president and his family that appear to indicate he is evading responsibility for all the sexual offenses of which he is accused.

Related articles:

Katsav accuser: President turned me into sex slave

Psychologists: Women's accounts of rape by Katsav were credible

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/917786.html

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	China, Israel diverge
	With Livni in Beijing, China rejects Israel's call for tougher sanctions against Iran.


	Amending aliyah
	Interior Minister Sheetrit says Jews should not be granted automatic Israeli citizenship.




1.	Katsav	14:34	\|	janice	30/10/07

2.	An agreement is an agreement	16:03	\|	Charles Star	30/10/07

3.	It`s not over until the fat lady sings	20:42	\|	Ilan	30/10/07

4.	Ribbit! Ribbit! Grabbit! Grabbit!	21:32	\|	Clickfool	30/10/07

Today Online


	Bradley Burston: It's Judeo-Fascism Month in the state of Israel
	Responses: 116


	IDF's tactical upper hand over Hamas in Gaza is diminishing
	Responses: 161


	PA negotiator: No talks without timeline for Palestinian state
	Responses: 69


	Moshe Arens: What the Qassams are costing Israel
	Responses: 86


	Druze MK demands top cop's dismissal over Galilee clash
	Responses: 74

Rosner's Domain

* Churchill became more pro-Zionist when Zionism became less popular in England

* WTR: The Christian perspective of Ann Coulter

* Is Tikkun Olam a substitute for Israel?

* Is Haaretz really better than the New York Times?

More Headlines
23:48 IDF strikes kill four Hamas men, wound 3 civilians


21:21 Druze MK demands top cop's dismissal over Galilee clash


22:45 EU urges Israel to reconsider cuts in energy supply to Gaza


18:43 Sheetrit: Jews should not be granted automatic Israeli citizenship


23:44 Egypt police: Gazans caught in tunnel members of Army of Islam


16:08 China rejects Israel's call for tougher sanctions against Iran


17:24 PA negotiator: No talks without timeline for Palestinian state


22:12 Islamic Jihad: Syria 'anti-summit' postponed until Annapolis date set


14:47 Former Norwegian diplomat mulls Oslo accord in new book


13:24 Polls after PM cancer revelation: Highest approval since 2006 war