Katsav
Photo: Haim Zach
Katsav protests Knesset committee's decision over suspension
President's attorneys claim that Knesset House Committee overstepped its bounds when it decided to extend Katsav's suspension until the end of his tenure
Suspended President Moshe Katsav's attorneys demanded Thursday that the Knesset House Committee change its decision regarding Katsav's suspension, claiming that the committee had acted outside its jurisdiction and illegally.
In a letter to the committee chairman, MK Ruhama Avraham, the lawyers stated that while Katsav told the committee that he would remain suspended "until further notice," the Knesset committee ruled that the suspension would last until Katsav's tenure as president ends.
The attorneys assert that according to Basic Law: The President, the president is the only person authorized to declare himself suspended. The Knesset House Committee can then decide whether to accept or reject the president's request, they wrote. They demanded that the committee's decision be overturned immediately.
The Knesset's legal advisor, Nurit Elstein, rejected the allegations, and said that it was within the House Committee's jurisdiction to rule on when the president's suspension should end.
