Ex-Israeli president sentenced
Katsav sentenced to seven years in prison in rape case
JERUSALEM – Israel’s former President Moshe Katsav was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for rape, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice, capping an emotionally charged trial that many Israelis viewed as a national embarrassment.
A Tel Aviv panel of judges, who found Katsav guilty in December, said their sentence was intended to show that no one is above the law in Israel and that rape is a serious crime.
“The defendant is a symbol,” Judge George Karra said as he read the sentence. “The fact that Katsav committed the acts while serving in a high-ranking post is reason to judge him severely.”
He added that rape is a crime that “ruins souls” and that Katsav’s sexual harassment “trampled the dignity” of female government employees who brought the complaint against him.
Katsav, who was forced from office in 2007 over the charges, could have received as few as four years and as many as 20 years.
As the sentence was read, a shaken, tearful Katsav lashed out at the judges, saying, “It’s a lie. You’re wrong. The girls know they lied.”
Katsav’s attorneys vowed to appeal to the Supreme Court.