Rejected plaintiff in Kastav case seeks access to evidence
Court case against former president continues as A., who was excluded from indictment, petitions High Court to order State to disclose new available evidence; force a confrontation between both sides
Former presidential bureau employee A., who was the first to file harassment charges against Former President Moshe Katsav and whose case was dropped from the indictment filed against him, petitioned the High Court Wednesday, asking she be allowed to confront the ex-president in court.
A.'s petition also included a motion calling the State to disclose new material found since her complaint was found, to her attorneys, Prof. Ariel Bendor and Eldad Yaniv.
In the petition, Bendor and Yaniv note that although A.'s matter was supposedly discussed by the High Court prior to the decision about theplea bargain in Katsav's case, it is in the interests of justice that her matter be reconsidered by the court, as part of the fresh avenues of investigation, pursuedat this time.
The petition further cites a ruling made by Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levy, saying that there is a clear link between A.'s case – dubbed "presidential bureau A." – to that of the other A., who was mentioned in the indictment, dubbed "Tourism Ministry A."
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"Attorney General Menachem Mazuz was close to including the sexual offenses committed (by Katsav) against the plaintiff in the indictment," said the petition. "It was made apparent that his change of heart was not rooted in new evidence... But rather in the unfounded notion that the two had an affair – a notion brought forward by Katsav's attorneys, which he categorically denied in his investigation.
"Katsav was the one who reneged on the plea bargain, with the declared intention of getting to the truth… his very wish will be best served by allowing a confrontation between him and the plaintiff," continued the petition, adding that the Supreme Court originally recommended a confrontation, in order to "allow the attorney general to reconsider his (original) decision."
Under the circumstances, "It is hard to differ that additional investigation will, indeed, held shed new light on the discrepancies found by Mazuz… should Katsav change his plea and admit to an affair, his admission will go towards clearing up any questions of abuse of power."
Once Katsav withdrew his consent to a plea bargain, A. petitioned Mazuz for and emergency hearing, aiming to convince him to amend any new indictment filed against Katsav to include her case.
A source in the State Prosecutor's Office told Ynet Wednesday that the chances of A.'s case for being reintroduced in the indictment are slim.
