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Former president Moshe Katsav. (Jini) Last update - 08:23 09/04/2008 State Prosecutor: New Katsav indictment may include rape By Tomer Zarchin and Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondents Tags: sex crimes, Israel  Officials in the State Prosecutor's Office say that a new indictment containing more serious charges - possibly including rape - will be filed against former president Moshe Katsav either before Pesach or immediately after the holiday, following Katsav's dramatic decision Tuesday to cancel the plea bargain that had downgraded the original rape charges against him to lesser sexual offenses and no jail time. Katsav said he intends to face the charges in court and will fight to clear his name. The trial will be the first for an Israeli head of state, past or present. Advertisement "Presumably the ramifications of this move are clear to Katsav," Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said in a brief statement a few hours after Katsav's lawyers informed him of their client's decision. Hinting that all bets are now off, Mazuz added: "You will recall, as was stated at the time in the state's reply to the High Court of Justice, on the eve of the plea bargain, that the clear tendency was to file an indictment, including on the gravest offenses of which he was suspected, despite the difficulties this posed. Now, since the plea bargain has been canceled, the decision called for in the circumstances will be made soon." An official involved in the case said that Katsav is clearly in a worse position now, having opened himself up to the original rape charges, and that he can expect to be sentenced to years in prison. While a previously key complainant in the case, the former President's Residence employee known as A., is unlikely to be included in the indictment because her credibility has been severely undermined, the official said, the new indictment could include rape charges pertaining to another A., a Tourism Ministry employee at the time Katsav was minister there. The original draft indictment (before Katsav had a hearing in front of Mazuz) accused Katsav of raping this woman on two occasions, at the minister's Tel Aviv office and at a Jerusalem hotel. The lawyer representing A. from the Tourism Ministry, who was the first in a series of women employees who filed sexual assault complaints against Katsav, demanded yesterday that his client's complaint be included in the new indictment. Attorney Eldad Yaniv demanded that Mazuz summon A. to discuss the matter, and said that she is prepared to confront Katsav face to face. A.'s complaint was excluded from the original indictment after the state prosecution decided that her testimony was not sufficiently reliable due to a number of contradictions. The prosecution's decision came after the police interviewed A. and despite the fact that they decided that her testimony was in fact credible, and recommended that the prosecution indict Katsav for rape based on her testimony. A spokesman for A., Nissim Douek, said earlier that A. welcomed Katsav's decision to forgo the plea deal, but pointed out: "We recently announced that we were planning to launch civil proceedings against Katsav, and as far as we're concerned, he would have stood trial for his actions anyway." The accusations against Katsav emerged in the summer of 2006 when he reported to police that a former employee was trying to blackmail him, demanding $200,000 in exchange for her silence on alleged sexual relations between them. Katsav also submitted a tape recording of the alleged extortion attempt. But then the women filed her own complaint, accusing the president of having coerced her into a sexual relationship through intimidation, while exploiting his position as her employer. Her complaint prompted several other women to come forward and submit similar complaints. Katsav resigned in June last year, weeks before his term was due to expire, under the terms of the plea bargain. Katsav was succeeded by President Shimon Peres, whom he had defeated in the 2000 election for the presidency. As part of the plea bargain, Katsav also confessed to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness. In return he was to receive a suspended sentence, and the rape charges were struck from the indictment. The Supreme Court, deliberating a petition by women's rights groups to throw out the deal, upheld the plea bargain in February, saying it saw no reason to intervene in Mazuz's decision to approve the arrangement. Katsav, a former Likud MK, has accused the media of mounting a politically motivated witch-hunt against him. "Check newspaper archives and television footage over the past two years and see what you did to this man," his lawyer Zion Amir told reporters. "Protesters were chanting outside, 'We want a trial, we want a trial' - so there will be a trial," said Avigdor Feldman, another of the ex-president's lawyers. Related articles: Protesters jeer Katsav, cheer the chance to take him to court Katsav accuser: President turned me into sex slave Source: High Court shouldn't cancel Katsav plea bargain Bookmark to del.icio.us   Carter's contacts Report: Ex-U.S. president Carter to meet with Hamas leader in Syria. Warning shouts Officer: Palestinians warned Israelis of terrorist infiltration.   1.   criminal 07:01  |  bibliovitz 09/04/08   2.   Poor little picked-on rapist 09:38  |  Clickfool 09/04/08   3.   MAKE HIM DEPOSIT HIS PASSPORT, 09:42  |  Robert 09/04/08   4.   let`s talk about Mazuz 10:07  |  the truth 09/04/08   5.   clickfool 11:05  |  the truth 09/04/08   6.   Could he be innocent? 11:17  |  JewishHeart 09/04/08   7.   1/2/3 You are all fools - Just watch Mazuz squirm 12:06  |  S Judah 09/04/08   8.   LET HIM HAVE HIS DAY IN COURT 12:07  |  petra 09/04/08   9.   Horses... 12:21  |  Esther 09/04/08   10.   They Obviously Have No Case 12:39  |  Ben Israel 09/04/08   11.   SO MANY WOMEN, SO... 13:08  |  indrajaya 09/04/08   12.   Then How Did that Plea Bargain happen? 14:10  |  mARK 09/04/08   13.   Kobe Bryant redux 14:13  |  MARK KLEIN, M.D. 09/04/08   14.   Question for Ben Israel # 10 14:19  |  Clickfool 09/04/08   15.   The guilty,who wears playboy clothes to work!!! 14:34  |  Jerry 09/04/08   16.   To Mark Klein MD & JewishHeart 16:30  |  David Hoffman 09/04/08   17.   A great use of time and money 17:55  |  IW 09/04/08   18.   Katzav must have his day in court 00:25  |  Sima 10/04/08   19.   What twaddle 05:24  |  Mark Lincoln 10/04/08

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