Katsav to file for extension for hearing request

Attorney Zion Amir expected to submit request to Supreme Court for an extra 60 days to prepare petition for hearing.

Katsav in court for appeal 311 R (photo credit:  REUTERS/Baz Ratner )
Katsav in court for appeal 311 R
(photo credit: REUTERS/Baz Ratner )
Former president and convicted rapist Moshe Katsav was set to request on Thursday an additional 60 days to file for another hearing at the Supreme Court.
This follows the 45 extra days that the court previously gave him, which will end this week. In the request that attorney Zion Amir was expected to file, it said: “In light of the great scope of the court ruling and material of the case, the defendant’s team needs more time to write full explanations in the extension request... the defendant’s team is also considering personnel changes, which require additional time.”
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The move comes a week-and- a-half after Katsav’s defense lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, said that he would not request a further appeal hearing.
Speaking at the conference of the Center for Law and Media at Bar-Ilan University, Feldman had said that Katsav didn’t stand a chance of changing the Supreme Court’s decision, because the “justices didn’t listen to him and decided to embark on a media campaign.”
Katsav began his seven-year prison sentence in early December, still holding tight to his claim of innocence.
“One day, the truth will come out. I don’t know when. It’ll be with or without me,” he said. “I’ve acted honorably with everyone,” he told reporters outside his Kiryat Malachi home on the day that he was taken to prison.
Despite his repeated denial of any wrong doing, three Supreme Court justices ruled unanimously against his appeal last month.