President Moshe Katzav officially stepped down from his post Friday morning, handing his resignation to Acting President and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik.
The resignation came as part of Katzav's plea bargain with the State Prosecutor’s Office in a case involving allegations of sexual offenses, fraud, breach of trust and corruption committed by Katzav while he was in office.
Indictments on reduced charges against Katzav will be issued next week, said Attorney General Menachem Mazuz at a hastily-gathered news conference Thursday.
“The president will be indicted for a series of indecent assaults against a woman who worked at his office in the Tourism Ministry,” he said, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. The President, however, will not sit in jail since the plea bargain agreement sets only a one-year suspended sentence as punishment.
“In addition, the indictment will include a sexual harassment offense against a complainant who worked at the President’s Residence, and harassment of a witness. The president will admit to the charges in the indictment and take responsibility,” he added.
Katzav said he agreed to plead guilty to the charges, reduced from rape, in order to spare his family any further pain. “I am tired. My family is wrecked. I don’t have the stamina to face a court battle. So I pleaded guilty to hugging and kissing out of affection,” he said. Katzav's lawyer Avigdor Feldman insisted that his client did nothing criminal and had agreed to plead guilty on the drastically reduced charges only to save the emotional and financial drain of a court case on rape charges.
The outgoing president’s chief accuser, referred to by the initial of her name as “Aleph”, made history at a news conference she held Thursday. It was the first time in Israeli history in which a person addressed reporters at a conference broadcast live on the major national electronic media, yet managed to retain her anonymity by blurring the image of her face.
Aleph was outraged about the plea bargain deal, speaking in sexually explicit terms to the media as she hurled epithets at the outgoing president. Katzav’s lawyer later slammed Aleph for her remarks.
Aleph acknowledged in her remarks that she learned that the prosecution dropped the charges of rape related to her because two other female witnesses contradicted her version of the events.
Women’s groups were incensed at the reduced charges against Katzav and announced they would hold a large demonstration Saturday night to protest the Attorney General’s decision to drop the rape charges and reduce others in the plea bargain agreement.
The women’s organizations also plan to appeal the issue to the High Court of Justice, which must approve the Attorney General’s decision.
Regardless of the outcome, the outgoing president will continue to receive the same lifetime retirement benefits as any other former president. These include a monthly payment of $11,000, a stipend for apartment expenses, a car and driver, two workers and security guards.
Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik will continue to be Acting President until President-elect Shimon Peres begins his term on July 15th.