Former Israeli Prez Gets 7 Yrs For Rape

BBC News reports:

Israel's former President Moshe Katsav has been jailed for seven years for rape and other sex offences.

He was convicted at an earlier hearing of raping an employee in the 1990s when he was tourism minister, and of later sexual offences while he was president.

The rape victim, known as Woman A, told the court he had first attacked her at the tourism ministry office, and later at a hotel in Jerusalem.

Katsav resigned from the largely ceremonial post of president in 2007.

He had initially agreed with prosecutors to plead guilty to sexual misconduct, avoiding more serious charges.

But he later withdrew the agreement and denied the rape allegations.

'Riddled with lies'

Sentencing 65-year-old Katsav - the first former Israeli head of state to be jailed - the judges told him no-one was above the law.

The Associated Press reported that Katsav broke down in tears when he heard the sentence, shouting at the judges: "You made a mistake. It is a lie. The girls know it is a lie."

His lawyers told the BBC he would not go to jail immediately as the court had allowed him a 30-day grace period to lodge an appeal.

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