The High Court on Tuesday will hand down its ruling on the petitions filed against the plea bargain
signed between the State and former President Moshe Katsav.
In addition to its impact on the former president, the judges' decision is also expected to greatly affect Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, and may even lead to his resignation.
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| 'Our battle is not over' / Yael Branovsky |
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High Court’s Tuesday ruling on Katsav plea deal eagerly awaited by women’s organizations, who feel it have great impact on other victims of sexual assault |
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Should the judges accept the petitions against the deal, which was led by Mazuz, this would be a severe blow to the attorney general's reasoning. Even if the petitions are rejected, a minority opinion among the judges may criticize Mazuz, but are not expected to have an impact on the attorney general's office.
Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann has already announced that he believes the attorney general should not resign in any case.
The panel of five judges – Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish, her deputy Eliezer Rivlin, and Justices Ayala Procaccia, Edmond Levy and Asher Grunis – are expected to announce their decision at 8:45 am, ruling whether the indictment will be amended or whether Katsav will be convicted of sexual harassment but not of rape.
The former president's associates said Monday that "even if the High Court eventually accepts the plea bargain, the former president cannot be satisfied. He has undergone great suffering and delay of justice which cannot be described. He has been accused of things which never happened, for no fault of his."
The judges' ruling on the matter will be the last procedure in the case, after the High Court's decision in July 2007 to issue an injunction against the plea bargain with the former president.
The court demanded that Mazuz explain the reasons which led to the discrepancies between the plea deal and the draft indictment released several months earlier.
Mazuz's initial draft indictment,
which was release on April 2007, included 36 different charges, including rape offenses allegedly committed by the State of Israel's eighth presidents between 1999 and 2000.
Several months later, the Justice Ministry decided to sign a plea bargain with the former president, which charged Katsav with relatively light offense of "hugging and caressing".
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