Israeli police: President should be charged with rape

Police in Israel said on Oct. 15 that the country's president should be charged with raping and sexually assaulting several women who worked for him. President Moshe Katsav is also suspected of bugging his staff's telephones and of fraud, police said. The case, which has dragged on for months, will now pass to the attorney general, who is expected to take several weeks to decide whether or not to bring charges. "There is prima facie evidence of a number of incidents in which several women who worked under his authority were involved, that the president carried out sex crimes of rape, sexual molestation by force and without consent," the Justice Ministry and the police said in a joint statement. He is also suspected of a "violation of a law against eavesdropping," it said. The announcement came after investigations, searches of his office and home and police interrogations. Katsav, 60, denies the claims and insists he is the victim of a "public lynching." He has refused to step down, despite lurid accounts in the newspapers. Reports suggest that the case is based on complaints from five women who worked for Katsav during his time as president and previously when he was a government minister. Five other women have made similar complaints of sexual harassment dating back many years. The case came to light this year when a female employee, known as A, complained that Katsav had forcibly had sex with her. The attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, will have to decide if there is enough evidence to bring charges. Police said they also have evidence that A may have tried to blackmail Katsav. Katsav's lawyer, Zion Amir, said that there had been a number of previous cases where the attorney general had dismissed police attempts to charge senior government officials. As president, Katsav is immune from prosecution unless he resigns or is formally impeached by parliament. His term is due to end next year and some speculate that a deal could be reached with the prosecutors that allows him to avoid trial. A cabinet minister, Yuli Tamir, called for him to quit. "The president must resign," Tamir, the education minister, told Israeli television. "If he doesn't do so, I believe a process will be launched to force him to resign." Katsav became president of Israel in 2000, narrowly beating the former Labor prime minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres for the job. His is a seven-year term that is due to end next year. Katsav came to the presidency with a background in politics as a leading figure and power broker in the right-wing Likud party. He has held several ministerial positions in government.