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The panel of Supreme Court justices on Thursday upheld Moshe Katsav’s seven-year rape sentence, and rejected all of the former president’s defenses.
"A deep sadness falls over the State of Israel because a person who was a minister in the government, the deputy prime minister and the president of the country carried out these acts," the ruling read. "The hardest thing of all is to see that the person who used to be the symbol of the land of Israel is going to prison."
The ruling went on to call rape "one of the most terrible crimes," and added that the worst thing is that "he did it in the President’s Residence, at the height of his public career" and "used his power to carry out rape and sexual assault against his staff."
The former president looked visibly upset as the verdict was read.
The court rejected Katsav’s defense that Aleph, Katsav’s victim, lied in her version of the encounter between the two because she didn’t complain at the time of the incident but waited until later. The ruling said there was no doubt that Katsav carried out the act with force.
The court also did not accept the line of defense that there was a romance between Aleph and Katsav.
Immediately after the ruling was read, Katsav’s lawyer, Zion Amir, requested a further postponement of several weeks. The court responded that Katsav must report to the Tel Aviv District court on December 7, 2011 to begin his prison term.
Katsav arrived at the Supreme Court Thursday morning to a full courthouse, warmly greeting family members and his supporters. His wife was noticeably absent from the courtroom.
The panel of justices – Miriam Naor, Edna Arbel and Salim Joubran – began to read their decision at 9 a.m., following three months of deliberations after hearing Katsav’s appeal in August.
The verdict was announced almost a year after the former head of state was convicted of two counts of rape, two counts of sexual harassment, an indecent act using force and obstruction of justice.
Although the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Katsav to seven years in prison, Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger agreed in May to a request by Katsav’s defense lawyers to postpone his punishment until after his appeal process.