GODS CHOSEN RAPIST

Former President of Israel Is Convicted of Rape

By ISABEL KERSHNER

Published: December 30, 2010

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JERUSALEM — Former President Moshe Katsav of Israel was convicted of two counts of rape by a Tel Aviv court on Thursday, capping a four-year spectacle that began with accusations of sexual misconduct against him while he was still in office.

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Pool photo by Heidi Levine

Former President Moshe Katsav of Israel at court on Thursday.

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A panel of three judges convicted Mr. Katsav of raping an employee while he was minister of tourism, a post he held from 1996 until 1999. The court also convicted Mr. Katsav of sexually abusing another complainant and of harassing a third while he was serving as president.
“This is not a happy day or an easy day,” said Ronit Amiel, the state prosecutor in the case, as she left the courtroom on Thursday. But expressing the mixed feelings of many Israelis, she said the verdict represented a “badge of honor for Israeli democracy.”
Mr. Katsav, looking shaken, made no comment as he left the court accompanied by his lawyers. His son, Boaz, said that the family would continue to stand by Mr. Katsav, that they were proud of him and that they were still convinced he was innocent.
Sentencing will take place in January. Many legal commentators said that such a harsh verdict would inevitably lead to a prison term.
Reading from a 25-page summary of the verdict, the presiding judge, George Karra, said that Mr. Katsav’s testimony was “strewn with lies,” that in one of the cases of rape his diary did not support his testimony, and that the victim had “struggled with Katsav in his office and found herself on the floor.”
Mr. Katsav resigned from the presidency in disgrace in 2007, two weeks before the end of his seven-year term, amid fierce public criticism over a deal he had reached with state prosecutors by which rape charges against him were dropped in exchange for an admission of guilt for lesser offenses. According to its terms, Mr. Katsav was to serve no jail time, but receive a one-year suspended sentence and pay compensation to two women.
In a dramatic courtroom twist in April 2008, Mr. Katsav backed out of the plea agreement, saying that he wished to fight for his innocence in court — a gamble that appears to have ended disastrously for the former president.
State prosecutors later presented a new indictment, reinstating the rape charges.
Mr. Katsav was allowed to go home on Thursday, but the court ordered him to deposit his passport with the authorities. His wife, Gila, who accompanied him at earlier stages of his legal battle, was not present for the verdict.