Last update - 00:00 27/07/2007
Draft indictment against Katsav details dropped rape charges
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
The draft indictment against former president Moshe Katsav, released Thursday, sheds more light on the charges that the state dropped before filing an indictment following his plea bargain.
The main difference between the two documents is the deletion of two charges involving violent rapes and other charges involving numerous acts of lesser gravity that appeared in the draft, but not in the final version. According the plea bargain, Katsav's misconduct amounts to caresses, hugs, kisses and attempted kisses.
The plea agreement replaced the rape and related charges with one charge of an indecent act without consent, while exercising force.
The primary complainant is the woman known as A. from the Tourism Ministry. The draft indictment charged Katsav with two counts of rape and one count of a forced indecent act. The first rape allegedly occured in Katsav's office in Tel Aviv while he was tourism minister.
According to the draft, Katsav allegedly touched A.'s breasts and tried to remove her pants.
A. allegedly resisted and a tussle developed, during which Katsav allegedly knocked A. down on the floor, stripped off her pants, forcibly spread her legs and penetrated her. A. allegedly used force to resist him, but to no avail.
The second alleged rape occured two months later, in Katsav's room at the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem. According to the draft, Katsav allegedly lay A. down on the bed, stripped her and forcibly penetrated her. In this case, too, "A. continually asked the accused [Katsav] to stop and tried to push him off," but Katsav tried to calm her down, and told her, "relax, you'll enjoy it."