Former Israeli president avoids prison over sex allegations (Roundup)

Feb 26, 2008, 14:18 GMT

Jerusalem - Former Israeli president Moshe Katsav escaped a possible prison sentence, when Israel's High Court of Justice upheld a controversial plea bargain Tuesday in which he admits only to minor sex offences against several former employees.

The court rejected a petition submitted by women's advocacy groups and several of a series of former employees who filed serious sexual harassment complaints against Katsav.

The women alleged Katsav, 62, sexually harassed them while they worked under him when he served as president and tourism minister during the past decade.

The complaints included one count of rape, punishable by up to 16 years in prison under Israeli criminal law, and several other serious offences.

But under the plea bargain, signed in June, Katsav admits only to committing an 'indecent act' and harassing a witness, and faces a suspended sentence and fine.

A panel of five judges voted three against two that the bargain was legitimate.

The affair first broke in the summer of 2006, when Katsav reported to the police that a former employee identified only as 'A' allegedly tried to blackmail him, demanding 200,000 dollars in exchange for her silence on alleged sexual relations between him and her.

He had submitted a tape recording of the suspected extortion attempt.

But complainant A subsequently filed her own complaint, accusing Katsav of having coerced her into a sexual relationship through intimidation and while exploiting his superior position as her employer.

Her complaint prompted as many as nine other women to come forward and submit similar complaints.

Katsav, a married father of five and grandfather, vehemently denied the charges, and insisted he also engaged in no consensual sexual relationships with any of the women.

His attorney Zion Amir welcomed the supreme court ruling as a 'victory,' which he said came 'after long months during which every basic right was taken from the president.'

He added the ruling justified reconsidering the plea bargain altogether, hinting Katsav may try to reduce the charges against him even further.

The former president's spokesman, Motti Morrel, said the ruling proved the affair had been a 'tornado in a glass of water,' which he charged had been hyped up by the police, attorney general and the Israeli media.

'The life of a man has been destroyed over nothing, because they created spins month after month after month, when in the end it turns out it is nothing,' he charged.

But attorney Kineret Barashi, who represented A and whose complaint had been omitted from the plea bargain, said she had 'severe criticism' of the court's lack of will to intervene in plea bargains. The attorney-general's handling of the affair and the mitigated deal he offered were severely 'defective,' she said.

'Women will no longer complain and we have created a situation whereby Israel has become a paradise for sex offenders,' she told Channel 2 television.

Katsav resigned in June, shortly after Israel's attorney-general announced the plea bargain, as his seven-year term as president was about to expire. He was replaced one month later by veteran Israeli statesman Shimon Peres by a parliament vote.

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz had been criticized especially for saying one consideration behind offering the plea bargain was to avoid harming Israel's image by placing a former president on trial.

He had initially presented a draft indictment in January last year, which in addition to the one count of rape included other severe offences punishable by up to three years in prison, including consensual sex while abusing one's superior position in a work relationship and indecent acts through similar abuse of power.

The attorney-general's office welcomed the court ruling, and urged women to continue complaining about sexual harassment.