Former Israeli president found guilty of rape

Moshe Katsav, a former president of Israel, was convicted today on two counts of raping an employee while he was a cabinet minister in a case that has shocked the country but is seen as a milestone victory by women's groups.

Katsav, 65, is facing a probable jail sentence of between four and 16 years after being found guilty on charges that he raped and sexually assaulted a female member of his staff when he was tourism minister in 1998.

He was also convicted of sexually harassing an employee in his official Jerusalem residence while he was president, and of sexually abusing and harassing another in the same building, and of a separate count of obstruction of justice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had been a sad day for Israeli and its citizens but added: "The court sent two clear and sharp messages: that everyone is equal and every woman has the full right to her body."

While he could yet appeal, yesterday's verdict concluded a remarkable four-year saga that began in 2006 when Katsav complained that a female employee was attempting to blackmail him with stories of sexual assault. The woman then went to the police with the allegations and as the investigation opened other women came forward with similar complaints.

Katsav resigned in 2007, just before his seven-year term of office was about expire. He had negotiated a plea bargain under which he was to admit to lesser charges of sexual misconduct in return for the dropping of the most serious charges of rape. He was replaced in the largely ceremonial post of head of state by Shimon Peres, the former prime minister.

But in April 2009 he made what now appears to have been - from his point of view - a disastrous error by dramatically reversing his original decision, which would have avoided a jail sentence, and vowing to clear his name in court. He held a histrionic press conference at the time, shaking in anger, screaming at reporters and brandishing a computer disc which he said proved his innocence.

One of the most devastating sections of yesterday's ruling by the three judges in the Tel Aviv court - one male, two female - was their finding that the defendant's testimony was "riddled with lies" and that Katsav, all along, "excelled in manipulation and withholding information".

In particular, the judges found, the court had been presented with edited tapes, which tampered with the recordings of conversations between the rape victim - known in court only as "A" - and a Katsav aide, purportedly discussing the possibility that she would return to work for the defendant after the incident was supposed to have happened. The defence therefore argued that it was improbable that she could have been raped.

Among a series of false timings in Katsav's testimony, the judges found that the former president even deliberately lied about the date of his late father's memorial service, claiming that it had taken place in May and that it therefore made no sense that his victim was raped in April and then attended the service.

According to the indictment, which led to the trial, Katsav forced a woman to the floor of his office at the Tourism Ministry in 1998 and raped her. Later that year he summoned her to the Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem, allegedly to go over paperwork, and then raped her again on the bed in his room. The indictment said Katsav tried to calm his victim by saying: "Relax, you'll enjoy it."

Among other incidents detailed in the indictment, on Katsav's 60th birthday in 2005, he was said to have hugged at length an assistant who had offered her congratulations, sniffing her neck. When she complained to police, the indictment said, Katsav tried to persuade her to change her testimony.

Of Iranian Jewish origin, Katsav grew up in relative poverty and in the past portrayed himself as a figurehead for Sephardic Jews or those with backgrounds in Muslim countries.

Sephardic Jews were widely regarded as downtrodden and ignored during Israel's first three decades after its creation when the Ashkenazi-led Labour Party dominated Israeli politics.

That situation lasted until Menachem Begin, the leader of the Likud, Katsav's party swept to power in the 1977 election.

- INDEPENDENT