Katsav's lawyers resign over marathon trial

Attorneys Avigdor Feldman, Zion Amir and Avi Lavi tell court they are unable to continue representing former president due to decision to hold four hearings a week. 'The court seems to think this trial is an arm wrestling battle with the defense counsels,' they write

Vered Luvitch
Published: 06.01.09, 10:12 / Israel News

Former President Moshe Katsav's lawyers submitted their resignation to the Tel Aviv District Court on Monday, after threatening to do so a couple of days ago. The court is expected to discuss the resignation request, which is unlikely to be approved.

Attorneys Avigdor Feldman, Zion Amir and Avi Lavi told the judges they were unable to continue representing Katsav due to the decision to hold four court hearings a week, as they have other suspects and defendants to represent as well.

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"The defense counsels regret the fact that they must quit this case, in which they have invested a huge amount of work and led to the annulment of a severe draft indictment, and particularly in light of the clear likelihood that the defendant will be acquitted," the lawyers wrote in their letter to Justice George Karra, who presides over the panel of judges.

The attorneys said that they want to provide "proper and appropriate defense to the defendant and meet their professional commitments to other clients, while there is no one who seeks a faster end to this grim affair than our client."

Katsav's lawyers added, "We chose to represent this person not in order to be the target of insults and humiliations, but in order to provide him with professional service, the best we can give in such a complicated case, whose transformations, difficulties and legal and public loopholes are known to everyone, which was defined by the state prosecutor as 'borderline and problematic.'"

The attorneys went on to harshly criticize the court: "The court seems to believe, even before the start of the trial, that the trial is an arm wrestling battle between the court and the defense counsels. The defense counsels don't think so."

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