More than 20,000 demonstrators flooded Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square Saturday night to protest the plea bargain deal allowing former President Moshe Katzav to avoid a jail term in return for pleading guilty to sexual assault and other reduced charges, which carry a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
Leading women politicians addressed the protestors, with one after the other slamming Attorney General Menachem Mazuz for agreeing to drop the rape charges and recommend a suspended sentence for the disgraced president.
Labor Education Minister Yuli Tamir declared that “now there is no law and no justice. These people (indicating the crowd of protestors) came here out of pain and out of desire to see a just trial.”
Tamir accused the Attorney General of sending a mixed message to women. “On the one hand, victims are encouraged to act bravely and come forward, and on the other hand a plea bargain will shut the victims’ mouths….We will not let this issue be swept aside,” she vowed.
Other speakers included Knesset Members Shelly Yechimovich (Labor), Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) and Tel Aviv City Councilwoman and former MK Yael Dayan.
Six women were arrested after the rally for continuing their protest by blocking traffic.
Mazuz: Indictment for Rape Might Have Led to Acquittal
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said in an interview on Channel 2 TV earlier in the day that the plea bargain agreement was the only way to ensure a conviction in the sexual assault case against former President Moshe Katzav.
“Aleph was a victim in the relationship with Katzav,” acknowledged the Attorney General, “but being a victim is not a legal term.” The difficulty with Aleph’s testimony, he said, was its lack of consistency. “The difficult question is whether the sexual relationship (between Katzav and Aleph) was consensual or an abuse of [Katzav’s] position, or rape.”
Another problem, said Mazuz, was that many of the allegations were connected with events that took place years ago, he added, and thus no longer admissible under the statute of limitations.
The Attorney General also noted that Katzav had lied while giving testimony, a fact to which he has agreed to confess as part of the plea bargain.
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 agreed to plead guilty on the drastically reduced charges only to save the emotional and financial drain of a court case on rape charges.
State Prosecutor Eran Shendar responded to the remarks several hours later by warning he would cancel the deal unless Katzav admitted to the reduced charges in court, without citing concern for his family’s pain as the reason for the guilty plea.
The indictment presented by the State Prosecutor to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court included the stipulations.
By law, the High Court of Justice must decide whether or not to approve the deal, and several women’s groups have petitioned the court to disallow the deal. The court also can change the puinishment.
The court cannot change the charges but does have the power to cancel the plea bargain and order the Attorney General to come up with a different solution.
Leading women politicians addressed the protestors, with one after the other slamming Attorney General Menachem Mazuz for agreeing to drop the rape charges and recommend a suspended sentence for the disgraced president.
Labor Education Minister Yuli Tamir declared that “now there is no law and no justice. These people (indicating the crowd of protestors) came here out of pain and out of desire to see a just trial.”
Tamir accused the Attorney General of sending a mixed message to women. “On the one hand, victims are encouraged to act bravely and come forward, and on the other hand a plea bargain will shut the victims’ mouths….We will not let this issue be swept aside,” she vowed.
Other speakers included Knesset Members Shelly Yechimovich (Labor), Zehava Gal-On (Meretz) and Tel Aviv City Councilwoman and former MK Yael Dayan.
Six women were arrested after the rally for continuing their protest by blocking traffic.
Mazuz: Indictment for Rape Might Have Led to Acquittal
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said in an interview on Channel 2 TV earlier in the day that the plea bargain agreement was the only way to ensure a conviction in the sexual assault case against former President Moshe Katzav.
“Aleph was a victim in the relationship with Katzav,” acknowledged the Attorney General, “but being a victim is not a legal term.” The difficulty with Aleph’s testimony, he said, was its lack of consistency. “The difficult question is whether the sexual relationship (between Katzav and Aleph) was consensual or an abuse of [Katzav’s] position, or rape.”
Another problem, said Mazuz, was that many of the allegations were connected with events that took place years ago, he added, and thus no longer admissible under the statute of limitations.
The Attorney General also noted that Katzav had lied while giving testimony, a fact to which he has agreed to confess as part of the plea bargain.
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 agreed to plead guilty on the drastically reduced charges only to save the emotional and financial drain of a court case on rape charges.
State Prosecutor Eran Shendar responded to the remarks several hours later by warning he would cancel the deal unless Katzav admitted to the reduced charges in court, without citing concern for his family’s pain as the reason for the guilty plea.
The indictment presented by the State Prosecutor to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court included the stipulations.
By law, the High Court of Justice must decide whether or not to approve the deal, and several women’s groups have petitioned the court to disallow the deal. The court also can change the puinishment.
The court cannot change the charges but does have the power to cancel the plea bargain and order the Attorney General to come up with a different solution.