[R-G] Israeli president in deal to avoid prison term and rape case

[Tim Murphy]

Friday June 29, 2007
The Guardian
www.guardian.co.uk


Israeli president in deal to avoid prison term and rape case

Katsav to resign before admitting harassment 

Women's rights groups attack plea bargain 

By

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem


The Israeli president, Moshe Katsav, struck a surprise plea bargain with
prosecutors yesterday under which he will resign and admit charges of sexual
harassment in return for avoiding a prison term and much tougher rape
charges.

The deal, which was announced by the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, in
Jerusalem, brought swift condemnation from MPs and women's rights
campaigners.

It marked an extraordinary reversal for Mr Mazuz, who earlier this year had
announced that he had sufficient evidence to charge the president with rape,
abuse of power and several other sexual offences. At least four female
employees had given evidence against Mr Katsav during a seven-month
investigation.

Mr Katsav, 61, will be formally charged at Jerusalem magistrates court next
week and will admit to a series of indecent assaults against a woman who
worked in the tourism ministry when he was minister in the late 1990s. He
will also admit to sexual harassment of a woman who worked in the
president's official residence, and to harassing a witness.

The charges would have brought up to seven years in jail, but under the deal
he will be given a suspended sentence and will have to pay an unspecified
amount of compensation to his victims, as well as submitting his
resignation.

Yesterday Mr Mazuz sought to defend his decision. "When the president
admits, it is not trivial," he said. "From the status of the State of
Israel's number one citizen, the president has descended to a person guilty
of a sex offence, with all the personal and public disgrace which will
accompany him."

He said it was Mr Katsav who had proposed the deal, which was finalised
yesterday morning. Mr Mazuz also said some of the allegations would have
been difficult to prove in court and might have damaged the "image of the
State of Israel".

The case first emerged in July last year when the president complained to
the attorney general that he was being blackmailed by the woman he was later
suspected of raping. But once the investigation began, the focus turned on
the president himself and the Israeli press was filled with lurid accounts
of the case. It was only one of several fraud and sex scandals that have
shaken the Israeli government in the last year.

Since Mr Katsav has now admitted several sexual offences, the deal brings
into question his continued protestations of innocence in recent months. At
a press conference in January he condemned the Israeli press for its
"poisonous, horrible lies" and screamed at a reporter before insisting: "I
did not commit any of the acts that are attributed to me."

He stepped aside from his ceremonial duties but ignored calls to resign,
which came even from the prime minister, Ehud Olmert. The Iranian-born
president also implied the charges against him were motivated by racism
against Israelis of Middle Eastern origin.

The deal was criticised yesterday. "There is no public interest in reaching
a plea bargain and reducing his sentence just because we're talking about
the president and only because we're concerned about how we'll look to the
world," said Kineret Barashi, the lawyer for one of the female victims.
Zahava Gal-On, an MP and women's rights campaigner, said: "Victims of sex
crimes will believe they do not have any shield."

Women have long argued that they are given little protection against sexual
harassment in important public offices.

Miriam Schler, of the Tel Aviv Rape Crisis Centre, said the deal was a
"travesty". "It gives a message to women who were raped and attacked or
sexually assaulted by men in positions of power that it's better for them to
sit at home and be quiet and not tell anyone about it because it's not worth
it for them to actually file a complaint with the police," she said.

Mr Katsav's seven-year term as president was formally due to end in July.
His replacement, Shimon Peres, 83, has already been elected by the Israeli
parliament. Mr Katsav defeated Mr Peres in a shock victory to take the
presidency in 2000. Mr Peres declined to comment yesterday on the case.

Mr Katsav will submit his resignation today and it will take effect 48 hours
later, just before he formally admits the charges.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2114524,00.html

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