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'Plea bargain is stinging slap in the face'

Women's groups, organizations that assist victims of sexual assault decry High Court decision to accept former President Moshe Katsav's plea deal; say will lead to decrease in women turning to police with complaints of sexual abuse

Tal Kramer-Vadai, Executive Director of the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, reacted to the High Court's decision on Tuesday morning to reject the petitions filed against former President Moshe Katsav's plea bargain, saying "this decision will further lessen the tendency of victims to turn to the police."

 

According to Kramer-Vadai, "We found out that there exists a large gap between law and justice. From the general public's perspective and those who have been sexually abused, this is a message of distrust of the judicial system. Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish's minority opinion emphasizes this plea bargain's problematic nature," she added.

 

Dafna Holz-Lechner, a lawyer who has represented victims of sexual abuse, said that "if until today, victims of sexual assault had a hard time coming to the police station in Israel to file a complaint and they considered it a hundred times – now they'll consider it 700 times and it appears that they won't even file a complaint at all. A lot of people will be roaming the streets and those attacked by them won't dare file a complaint."

 

'Sad and crucial day'

Women's groups were astonished by the High Court's ruling on the plea deal and said they are planning to organize demonstrations across Israel to protest the decision. Shula Keshet, Executive Director of the feminist movement Ahoti (My Sister), told Ynet that she is very disappointed by the decision. "We hoped the court would not forsake all women in Israel. This is a sad day for the State – just terrible. The Supreme Court needs to get over the lack of social awareness; and we will organize activities of protest," she added.

 

The Isha L’Isha Feminist Center in Haifa announced that the decision to reject petitions to vitiate former President Katsav's agreement represented a "sad and crucial day. We can only begin to assume the extent of its implications on the face of general Israeli society and on the status of the women in particular. Women in Israel got a stinging slap in the face whose message was heard from afar: Don't put your trust in the rule of law.

 

"Katsav is a convicted sex offender, (Deputy Prime Minister Haim) Ramon is a convicted sex offender and the both of them won the defense of the law and the support of wealthy people and this government when one out of three women has been sexually assaulted in Israel. Women's bodies and souls are not worthless," the group said.

 

Polticians' responses

Politicians were divided in their responses to the court's decision. MK Michael Eitan (Likud) said that "the court put a halt to the public lynching against the accused that was orchestrated by people who were motivated by media ratings and political popularity from within Israeli society. This is a victory for the qualified reasoning for the attorney general and, at the end of the day, for the plaintiff who succeeded in proving that in Israel it is possible to get the most out of the law and convict even those in power in Israel's highest public office."

 

MK Chaim Oron (Meretz-Yahad) said that "the High Court didn't actually solve the controversy and the questions surrounding the Katsav case remain unresolved. It is up to the attorney general to give a hand to the insolent claim by Katsav's attorneys that the crimes do not carry moral turpitude."

 

Mk Zahava Gal-On (Meretz-Yahad) said that the court's stamp of approval for the plea bargain was "a slap in the face to the plaintiff and giving of legitimacy to her slandering and abandonment. The court also preferred the president's dignity iover the dignity, freedom and well-being of women who have been sexually assaulted. This will bring about a situation where women will not complain against those in power because it appears that there is no equality before the law.

 

MK Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), the chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee, lauded the decision, saying he was happy that the attorney general's logic for the deal received approval from the court. "On the other hand, I have some severe criticism about the preponderance of plea bargains and the widespread feeling of a lack of justice and a trial in an unbalanced manner," Ben-Sasson added.

 

Amnon Meranda contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.26.08, 11:29
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