Katsav: I am the victim of a campaign of incitement and libel
In his first public comments since signing the plea bargain that spared him a rape trial, former president tells Channel 2, ’90 percent of the allegations were thrown in the trash and that doesn't interest anybody’
In a preview from an interview with Channel 2 television to be aired later in the day, Katsav said he and his family have been devastated by a scandal that has wronged them. Katsav showed no signs of remorse in the excerpt.
Although he agreed to the plea deal on Thursday, the High Court of Justice has put the agreement on hold, ordering the state to explain why it backed off from planned rape charges.
"Ninety percent of the allegations were thrown in the trash and that doesn't interest anybody," Katsav said. "This alone indicates the magnitude of the campaign of incitement and unconscionable ease with which libel and false allegations can be uttered, causing a man and his family to crash. It is very troublesome."
Avigdor Feldman, one of Katsav’s attorneys, said he was in possession of a note that was sent by complainant A to the former president after she had already left her post at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem. The note supposedly read, “Silly…You for all the reasons in the world”.
Meanwhile, complainant A’s mother told Channel 10 Tuesday evening that her daughter was threatened during the investigation by sources close to Katsav.
“One day a man who appeared to be Orthodox knocked on the door and said to me, ‘If your daughter keeps silent so will the president’. I told him that my daughter would not keep quiet.”
The mother added when her daughter was still working for Katsav he used to call their home in the middle of the night and ask to speak with her.
“I would hear her shouting at him, ‘Leave me alone; you’re married, you’re married’.”
Four women who worked for Katsav charged that he repeatedly fondled them, kissed them, exposed himself to them and - in two cases - raped them while he served as president and earlier, as tourism minister.
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision to go for a plea deal rather than rape charges touched off a public outcry, with critics charging that assaulted women would be discouraged from stepping forward, while Katsav would be allowed to fade quietly away.
About 20,000 people protested Mazuz's decision at a demonstration Saturday in Tel Aviv.
As part of the bargain, Katsav stepped down as president on Sunday, two weeks before his term was to expire.
