Former Israeli president guilty of rape

The former Israeli president Moshe Katsav has been found guilty of raping a former employee by a court in Tel Aviv.

The conviction is of unprecedented gravity for a head of state in the country.

Katsav was also convicted of sexual offences against two other former aides. He had denied the charges.

The rape allegations came from a former aide at the Israeli tourism ministry, which he headed in the late 1990s. He was also charged with sexual abuse, harassment and obstructing justice dating from his time as president – a post he held for seven years from 2000.

The trial at the District Court in Tel Aviv lasted nearly a year and took place almost entirely behind closed doors. Two years ago Katsav withdrew from a plea bargain that promised at worst a suspended sentence. He decided he wanted to prove his complete innocence.

The sentence, likely to be a lengthy jail term, will only be pronounced once arguments on each side are heard.

Katsav, who described himself as the victim of a witch-hunt driven by political rivals and the media, is expected to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court.

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