Israel's former number one citizen now its newest convict

By Jeff Abramowitz Dec 7, 2011, 14:58 GMT

Tel Aviv - The prison door slammed shut a few minutes after 10 am (0800 GMT) Wednesday, closing - at least until next month, when another appeal is heard - one of the most sordid scandals in Israel's history.

Moshe Katsav, Israel's former president, became the country's newest convict as he entered jail to begin serving a seven-year sentence for rape and sexual harassment.

For Katsav, who marked his 66th birthday on Monday, it is the latest stop on a journey which saw him rise from a poor immigrant from Iran, to local and then national politician, then minister, before being elected president by his parliamentary peers in 2000.

It is the end of a saga which began in 2006, and saw accusations and counter-accusations, claims and denials, protestations of innocence and verdicts of guilt.

For many Israelis, the saga unleashed conflicting emotions - shame that the country's number one citizen could be accused of, and then found guilty of, such acts, and at the same time pride that the law was upheld irrespective of rank.

Katsav, whom resigned the presidency in 2007, was convicted a year ago on two counts of rape. The victim, identified in court only as 'A', was his office manager when he was tourism minister in 1998. Other women made similar allegations.

He was handed a seven-year jail term and a two-year suspended sentence in March, as well as a fine, and was to have entered prison on May 8, but appealed.

Both the verdict and the seven-year sentence were upheld by the supreme court in Jerusalem in November, but another appeal is scheduled to be heard on January 8.

Throughout the whole affair, Katsav has maintained his innocence, and tried to portray himself as the victim. In a news conference at the start of the affair, he turned furiously on journalists, accusing them of a 'witch hunt' against him.

He kept it up Wednesday as he left for prison from his home in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachi.

'Anyone who knows me will say the accusations are false,' he insisted, surrounded by dozens of journalists, neighbours, family members and supporters.

'One day the truth will be uncovered,' he said, before adding, somewhat melodramatically, that Israel was 'burying a man alive,' and a man was being 'executed.'

Although some supporters and neighbours said they thought the former president was innocent and the charges against him had been fabricated, a TV poll showed that 69 per cent of the public thought he had received a fair trial.

'I think it's good that he's going to jail,' said Yoram, a Tel Aviv tobacconist.

But he added he felt 'shame' at living in a country where a former president could be imprisoned for rape.

'We all know the law here is not like it is in a banana republic. The law is the law, and I'm proud the system works,' he told dpa.

Katsav is in fact just the latest of a slew of former Israeli politicians and official jailed on corruption and other charges. His cell mate, at least for his initial period in jail, will be former health minister Shlomo Benizri, doing time for receiving bribes.

Former Finance Minister Avraham Hirschon was convicted in 2009 of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars form a labour federation and sentenced to five years jail.

Others convicted include ministers and lawmakers, including the son of former premier Ariel Sharon.

Another former prime minister, Ehud Olmert is currently standing trial, also on corruption charges, while earlier this year the Israel State Prosecutor's Office said it intended to indict current Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on fraud, money laundering, breach of trust and witness tampering charges.

Ironically, Katsav was elected president in 2000 in part because he promised to restore to the presidency some of the dignity it had lost under his predecessor, the flamboyant, outspoken, almost gleefully-undiplomatic Ezer Wiezman, whose intemperate remarks kept him almost permanently in the headlines.