Katsav Rape Case Reflects Poorly on Israeli Jurisprudence
Katsav will not be the only one on trial Former president Moshe Katsav is to be indicted anew on rape charges. The trial date and venue - either the Tel Aviv or Jerusalem District Courts - have obviously not been determined. But whatever the outcome, the prosecution's shoddy handling of the entire sordid affair will probably taint the judgment's legitimacy. We say this without taking sides on the guilt or innocence of the accused. The facts of this case must be examined in open court, as they should have been to begin with. The flaw in this case is that the evidence was not brought to the court in a timely fashion; nor was meticulous attention paid to the legal rights of the accused. In other systems of jurisprudence, such mishandling would probably have served as grounds for dismissal of the charges. THE KATSAV affair began on July 5, 2006, when Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz met with the president, at Katsav's request, to hear him complain of a blackmail attempt (by ...
