Sculpture garden at the President's Residence
Plaque at president's sculpture garden details Katsav's rape conviction
The President's Residence recently added plaques with background information behind each former president's bust; former president Katsav's plaque includes information about his conviction for rape and subsequent jail sentence.
A plaque that has been recently placed next to a bust of former president Moshe Katsav at the President's Residence in Jerusalem marks major events in his life, including his rape conviction and the seven-year prison sentence he is currently serving.
The President's Residence's sculpture garden features busts of all former presidents, including Katsav. Plaques noting historical personal information about each of the presidents were recently placed behind the busts, and current President Reuven Rivlin decided that the plaque behind Katsav's bust would also include information about his conviction and sentencing.
Sculpture garden at the President's Residence, Photo: Itamar Eichner
The plaque states in English, Hebrew, and Arabic that Katsav resigned from the presidency in 2007 after he was indicted for sexual offenses and was later sentenced to seven years in prison in 2011.
During Shimon Peres's tenure as president, he decided against removing the bust of Katsav from the sculpture garden and to keep the convicted president's photo at the entrance hall to the President's Residence. At the time, Peres explained his decision by saying it would not be right to rewrite history. Rivlin thought the same, and he too left the bust and photo in place.
On Sunday morning, Katsav's lawyer, Tzion Amir, said that his client will not appeal the parole board's decision to reject his request for early release on good behavior. Katsav has instead chose to put his fate in Rivlin's hands, submitting a request for pardon from the president.
"He had to make many difficult decisions throughout the whole process," said Amir. "The decision should be appealed. I personally recommended to appeal because I thought the board's decision was fundamentally erroneous."
