Former Israeli President Moshe Katzav is a convicted rapist

[Al-khiyal]

Prosecution demands former President Moshe Katsav be given long prison term

February 22, 2011 -- The State Prosecution demanded Tuesday that former President Moshe Katsav, who was convicted of rape, be given a lengthy prison sentence by the court and be accused of moral turpitude. Katsav was convicted on two counts of rape and indecent assault and sexual harassment involving women who worked for him. He was also convicted of obstruction of justice. At the Tel Aviv District court on Tuesday, the prosecution demanded that the court sentence Katsav to a long prison term, followed by a probation period, and also demanded that he pay a fine to the complainants in the case. Judges decided that Katsav will be given his sentence on March 8.

The law permits a sentence of 16 years in prison for rape, but based on precedent and comments by legal observers, there is a reasonable chance Katsav will receive less than this. One observer, attorney Ariel Atari, said the sentence would probably be a "single digit" number of years. In the full verdict released last month, the residing judges severely criticized the media for holding a "drumhead court-martial" to the former president, adding that while the coverage would not annul the verdict altogether, it may weigh in favor of the defense in its attempt to reduce Katsav's yet-to-be-delivered sentence. "We do not ignore the mental anguish the defendant suffered as a result of the infinite flux of harsh publications released against him through the media and which had declared him a sex offender prior to his trial," judges George Kara, Miriam Sokolov and Yehudit Shevah wrote in their verdict. The judges issued severe criticism of the Israeli media, saying that "lines were crossed in an unprecedented manner" in regard to the Katsav affair, adding, however, that the former president was at fault as well.

[Al-khiyal]

Israel ex-President Moshe Katsav jailed for rape

March 22, 2011 -- Israel's former President Moshe Katsav has been jailed for seven years for rape and other sex offences. He was convicted at an earlier hearing of raping an employee in the 1990s when he was tourism minister, and of later sexual offences while he was president. The rape victim, known as Woman A, told the court he had first attacked her at the tourism ministry office, and later at a hotel in Jerusalem. Katsav resigned from the largely ceremonial post of president in 2007. He had initially agreed with prosecutors to plead guilty to sexual misconduct, avoiding more serious charges. But he later withdrew the agreement and denied the rape allegations. Sentencing 65-year-old Katsav - the first former Israeli head of state to be jailed - the judges told him no-one was above the law. The Associated Press reported that Katsav broke down in tears when he heard the sentence, shouting at the judges: "You made a mistake. It is a lie. The girls know it is a lie." His lawyers told the BBC he would not go to jail immediately as the court had allowed him a 30-day grace period to lodge an appeal. After his conviction in December last year, Israeli media dubbed the case a political earthquake, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as "a sad day for Israel and its residents". According to court documents, he committed the rape in April 1998, and sexually harassed two women in 2003 and 2005 during his presidency. Judge George Karra told him: "We believe the plaintiff [Woman A] because her testimony is supported by elements of evidence and she told the truth." The judges said Katsav's evidence had been "riddled with lies". Women's groups in Israel welcomed the conviction, arguing that allegations of sexual harassment were too often ignored.