Indictment drafted for Israeli president - media

JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (Reuters) Prosecutors have begun to draft a charge sheet against Israeli President Moshe Katsav after police said they had evidence he committed rape, Israeli media reported today.

Army Radio reported that the state attorney-general, Menachem Mazuz, is likely to decide within two weeks to press charges against Katsav, who is under growing pressure to resign over the scandal involving female employees.

The report, published also by the Haaretz newspaper, said Jerusalem prosecutors were drafting a charge sheet after police said Sunday they had evidence Katsav had ''carried out sex crimes of rape, sexual molestation by force and without consent.'' The Justice Ministry spokesman did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

Katsav, 60, whose ceremonial position is widely seen as a unifying force in a country of deep political divides, has denied any wrongdoing and said he is the victim of a ''public lynching without trial''.

His lawyer, Tsion Amir, said the president would resign his post if an indictment is brought against him.

''If the attorney general decides, heaven forbid, there is room for an indictment, the president would not stay on for a moment,'' Amir said in remarks broadcast by the radio.

RESIGNATION URGED Katsav is the highest ranking Israeli politician ever suspected of sex crimes. He cold face up to 16 years in prison if he was tried and found guilty of rape.

Israeli politicians have urged him to resign or suspend himself, and under the pressure Katsav stayed away from a ceremonial opening of parliament's winter session yesterday.

Israeli newspapers said the competition for who would succeed Katsav was already heating up.

Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, a Nobel peace laureate, was a candidate to replace Katsav, though it was unclear whether he would agree to run. Katsav had defeated Peres in an upset election when he was chosen by parliament in 2000.

Another name mentioned as a possible candidate is former cabinet minister Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident whose aide has said would soon resign his parliament seat with the rightist Likud party for full time research.

Reuters SP DB1258