Last update - 00:00 11/09/2006
Ramon, accused of indecent act, says kiss was consensual
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Former justice minister Haim Ramon denied the charges of indecent assault at the opening of his trial in Tel Aviv Monday.
Ramon, who is charged with kissing a young woman soldier against her will, changed his story Monday and, unlike the statement he gave the police, said that he and the complainant had "kissed each other on the lips, a fleeting kiss that lasted two-three seconds."
He says he was the one who stopped the kiss. He also said he did not insert or try to insert his tongue into the complainant's mouth, as the indictment says, but did not deny the possibility that his "tongue touched her lips."
At the opening of the trial, Ramon's attorney Dan Sheinman responded to the facts in the indictment. Ramon admitted arriving as justice minister to the Prime Minister's Office in Tel Aviv on July 12 close to 8 P.M., but his version of the events that took place between him and the complainant is completely different than what is described in the indictment.
"Immediately after Ramon arrived at the office, the complainant initiated, in the presence of others, a conversation with him, saying things like 'you know I can't resist you,'" Sheinman said.
"She told Ramon she was about to complete her military service and travel overseas, inviting him to join her. It was obvious that this was not a serious offer but it had a clear element of flirtation."
Sheinman said that at the end of the conversation, Ramon was about to enter a side room to watch the news on television. The complainant asked to have a photograph taken with him, went to get her camera and returned with a soldier who photographed the two of them twice.
"In both pictures the complainant is seen with her arms wrapped around Ramon, one around his stomach and the other round his back. Her chest is held tightly to his and her head is leaning on his shoulder and neck. Ramon is seen in both photos with his right arm hugging her waist and his left hand in his trouser pocket."
The digital camera shows that seven seconds elapsed between the two photos. "Together with the time prior to the photographs, this close embrace lasted at least 10 seconds, not a short time," Sheinman said.
"The photographs show the complainant smiling broadly and looking happy. The way she was photographed with Ramon followed on from the flirtatious talk she started in the lobby," he said.
Ramon also claimed that contrary to the complainant's statement that he had kissed her against her will, between the two first shots and the third, there was no kiss between them before they were photographed again after one minute, this time by a secretary in the lobby.
In the third photo she also appears "smiling, her eyes radiant, she is calm, with her shoulder held against Ramon's. Her face, smile and eyes appear in the same manner as they were in the first two photographs."
According to Ramon, he then returned to the side room to watch television again. The complainant approached and said something to him. He gestured with his hands that he could not hear her.
"At this stage she entered the room, approached him, a physical proximity was formed, after which the defendant and complainant kissed each other fleetingly on the lips for two to three seconds until Ramon pulled away," he said.
Initially, Ramon told the police that the complainant had kissed him. Now he claims "the kiss was mutually consensual and spontaneous and was in direct continuation to the flirtatious talk and tight embrace in the photographs."
When they left the room, Ramon says he told her "we'll be in touch," while she wrote her name and mobile phone number on a note and gave it to him. "The complainant's behavior gave the defendant a clear sense that the kiss was fully consensual and mutual; had he not been certain of this, he would not have acted as he did," Ramon's attorney concluded.
Magistrates Hayuta Kochan, Daniella Shirizli and Daniel Be'eri said they would expedite the trial as much as they could, with the intention of ending it by the end of November. Ramon asked the court to end the proceedings by October.
The trial is scheduled to be resumed in a month, when the complainant's testimony is to be heard.