Thousands protest Katsav plea deal
Israeli supreme court agrees to consider legal challenge after rape case dropped.
Meni Mazuz, Israeli’s attorney general, had originally plan to press rape and sex assault charges that could have sent Katsav to jail for 20 years.
Four women have accused the former president of sex offences.
Justice demanded
Yael Dayan, a former politician and prominent Israeli women’s rights advocate, said: “We are asking to hear the evidence. We don’t demand mercy, we demand justice.
“We are calling on the courts to have the courage not to approve the deal.”
| “We are asking to hear the evidence. We don’t demand mercy, we demand justice” Yael Dayan, former politician |
Katsav resigned on Friday as part of the deal, just two weeks before his seven-year term was to expire.
He is set to receive a suspended prison sentence and be required to pay damages to two of his four accusers, all former female employees, under the plea deal.
Many in the crowd wanted Mazuz to resign for failing to put the president on trial.
The attorney general has told Israeli TV that Katsav had behaved like a serial sex offender, but most of the allegations against him referred to events that could not be brought to court under Israel’s statute of limitations.
He also said conflicting testimony from witnesses would make it hard to ensure a guilty verdict on rape charges.