Former Israeli President Katsav To Serve 7 Years For Rape

[News_Editor]

Former Israeli President Katsav to serve 7 years for rape‎

2011-11-11 07:30:54 GMT+7 (ICT)

JERUSALEM (BNO NEWS) -- Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a court decision to convict former President Moshe Katsav of rape and other sexual offenses, and to sentence him to seven years in prison, the Haaretz newspaper reported.

The Supreme Court justices unanimously decided not to intervene in the Tel Aviv District Court's ruling after they agreed that Katsav had lied when insisting that his sexual relations with the former Tourism Ministry employee, identified only as A., were consensual. Katsav is set to begin serving his sentence on December 7.

"The crime of rape damages and destroys a person's soul ... Due to the severity of the crime, the punishment must be clear and precise," the judges ruled. "The defendant committed the crime and like every other person, he must bear the consequences."

"No man is above the law. The contention that seeing a former president of the country go to jail is too painful to watch is an emotional argument, but it definitely cannot be accepted as an ethical argument," wrote the judges in convicting Katsav.

Katsav was convicted unanimously by a three-judge tribunal of the Tel Aviv District Court in December 2010 on a number of counts of sex offenses. He was convicted of raping and sexually assaulting A., a former employee at the Tourism Ministry, while Katsav was tourism minister. He was also convicted of sexually harassing H. from the President's Residence; of sexually abusing and harassing L. from the President's Residence and of obstruction of justice.

The 65-year-old was sentenced to seven years in prison in March of this year. The court also ruled that Katsav must serve two years of probation and pay NIS 100,000 ($27,000) to his main victim, the former Tourism Ministry employee known as A., and to pay NIS 25,000 ($7,000) to L., who he had sexually harassed and abused.

The year-long trial took place almost entirely behind closed doors. Katsav's attorneys appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court in May.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-11-11

[GentlemanJim]

Wow! Israel rocks! A politician being made accountable for his crimes! Wonders never cease. I hope this precedent catches on. It will be interesting to observe his reaction. If he does not accept his crime and punishment I wonder if he will (threaten) to reveal matters of state.