The Tel Aviv District Court today unanimously found former president Moshe Katsav guilty of rape and other charges, four and a half years after the Israel Police opened its investigation against him on charges of serious sexual offenses.
The Tel Aviv District Court ruled he was guilty of two counts of rape, as well as guilty of indecent acts, sexual harassment, and obstruction of justice. The head of the three-judge panel, Judge George Karra, together with Judges Judith Shevach and Miriam Sokolov, knocked down Katsav's claims one by one, ruling that his alibi was refuted and that his testimony was "riddled with lies".
The hearings on the punishment will take place in the coming weeks, after which Katsav's sentence will be decided. The sentence could be as much as 16 years in prison. Later, Katsav is expected to appeal both the verdict and the sentence to the Supreme Court.
Katsav was convicted on two counts of rape and an indecent act against plaintiff A from the Ministry of Tourism, of sexual harassment of H of the President's Residence, and of an indecent act and sexual harassment of L of the President's Residence. He was also convicted of obstruction of justice. He was acquitted of intimidating a witness, the least serious of the charges in the indictment.
The panel of three judges began reading a 25-page synopsis of the verdict this morning. The reading was in open court, after the court accepted a request by "Globes" and other media for a public hearing.
The judges did not state at the start of the reading whether Katsav was found not guilty. According to the rules, in case of acquittal, the judges must state this at the start of the reading of the verdict; they did not say this, and began to read the verdict immediately.
The judges said that they believed A's version of events.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 30, 2010
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