By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israel’s Supreme Court is expected to hand down on Tuesday its ruling on the petitions filed by rights groups against a plea bargain deal signed between Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and former Israeli president Moshe Katsav.
According to local daily Yedioth Ahronoth, under the signed plea bargain, Katsav agreed to plead guilty to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness in exchange for dropping the rape charges from the ongoing case against him. Shortly after signing the plea bargain, Katsav submitted his resignation in June 2007.
However, Israeli rights groups, including the Movement for Quality Government and a number of women’s rights groups, filed petitions to the Supreme Court against the plea bargain deal, citing “the extreme lack of reasonableness in Mazuz’s decision stems from the fact that he backtracked on his original intention to indict the (former) president with more serious accusations, including rape and serious indecent acts.”
But Yedioth Ahronoth said that Israel’s Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish is having trouble in obtaining the necessary majority to annul the deal.
Israel’s Channel 10 also said that three out of the five judges on the panel are in favor of upholding the plea deal. In January 2007, Mazuz decided to charge Katsav with sexual crimes, including rape.
At the beginning of the investigation, Katsav vowed to fight for his innocence but later changed his mind to sign the plea bargain deal offered by prosecuting attorney.